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biochemistry
AB
What are the energetics involved in this process?
Will this process occur spontaneously?
Thermodynamics!
The first law of thermodynamics:
The first law of thermodynamics: the total energy of a system
and its surrounding is constant.
For a certain process within a system, the change in energy is the
sum of absorbed heat and work done by the system
U = Ufinal Uinitial = q - w w
H = U + PV At constant P: H = U + PV
Most biological processes occur under constant pressure (P) and
constant volume (V), therefore the enthalpy change (H) equals heat
change (q)
H = q
q is the heat exchange between the system and the environment,
Positive: absorbed heat from the environment
Negative: release heat to the environment
The second law of thermodynamics
stotal > 0
Entropy is a measure of disorder in a system
S = kBlnW
kB = Boltzmann s constant
W: number of energetically equivalent ways to arrange
components of a system.
Free energy: the second law in open systems
Living systems are not isolated systems, so we need to state the second
law of thermodynamics in terms that are relevant to open systems
Stotal = Ssurrounding + Ssystem
G = H - TS
Example of the interplay of enthalpy
and entropy
Is it energetically favorable for ice to melt at 263 K
(-10 C), where H is +5630 J/mol and S is
+20.6 J/Kmol?
Or
If this reaction is set up in a test tube, at equilibrium, the concentration of G6P is 2mM, what is the
concentration of F6P
[F6P]/[G6P] = 0.504
side the cell, at a given moment G6P and F6P concentrations inside the cell are 4 mM
and 1 mM, what is the favored direction of the reaction?
unfavorable AB G = 15 kJ .mol-1
favorable B C G = -20 kJ. mol-1
A + B B + C G = -5 kJ .mol-1
How is life thermodynamically possible