Physics - Molecular Theory of the Living Cell - page 9

increased or decreased; only its form can be changed. Since energy, E, and matter, m,
are equivalent and interconvertible according to Einstein's special relativity theory ,
i.e., E mc 2 , where c is the speed of light, 10 10 cm/s (Shadowitz 1968), the term

energy in the expression of the First Law of thermodynamics should, strictly speaking,
be replaced by energy and matter , which is often written as “energy/matter” or more
briefly as “mattergy.” That is, according to the First Law of Thermodynamics, it is the
mattergy of the Universe that is conserved and not its matter or energy separately.
I will adopt 'mattergy' throughout this topic.

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2.1.4 The Second Law of Thermodynamics

The most important contribution that Colin McClare (1937-1977) made to biology
in his short life may be to have introduced time explicitly in 1971 in his re-
formulation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics so that it can be applied to
molecules (McClare 1971). Before his work, classical thermodynamicists (since
around 1850) believed that the Second Law was a statistical law and hence cannot
be applied to individual molecules. The classical formulation of the Second Law
(e.g., by Kelvin) states that:
It is impossible to devise any engine which, working in a cycle, shall produce no effect
other than the extraction of heat from a reservoir and the performance of an equal amount of
mechanical work.

(2.4)

McClare reformulates the Second Law in a similar vein but with an explicit
implication of time t :
It is impossible to devise an engine, of any size whatever, which, acting in a cycle which
takes a time t , shall produce no effect other than the extraction of energies, which have
equilibrated with each other in a time less than t , from a reservoir at one temperature and
the conversion of these energies into a form in which they would remain stored for longer
than t ; either at a higher temperature, or in a population-inversion. (2.5)
We may refer to Statement 2.5 as the microscopic version of the Second Law (or
the McClare version of the Second Law ), in contrast to the classical one which
would then be referred to as the macroscopic version . These two versions of the
Second Law may be related to each other as Newtonian (macroscopic) mechanics is
related to quantum (microscopic) mechanics.
Consistent with the microscopic version of the Second Law, there appears to be
at least two mechanisms by which chemical energy can be converted to mechanical
energy (as happens in many biological systems such as the actomyosin system,
molecular motors, and ion pumps) (see Chap. 8 and Sect. 11.3 ). One is the
resonance mechanism proposed by McClare himself (1971, 1974), and another is
the conformon mechanism that I proposed in the same meeting where McClare
presented his theory (see Fig. 3 in Ji (1974b)).
In (McClare 1974, p. 108), McClare's resonance-based mechanism of chemical-
to-mechanical energy conversion was criticized by G. Weber of the University of
Illinois, Urbana, but the Franck-Condon principle-based conformon mechanism is