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In in the Biological Science s. More definitively, biological thermodynamics may be defined as the quantitative study of the energy transductions that occur in and between living organisms, structures, and cells and of the nature and function of the chemical processes underlying these transductions. Biological thermodynamics may address the question of whether the benefit associated with any particular Phenotypic trait is worth the energy investment it requires. HISTORY German-British medical doctor and biochemist Hans Krebs ' 1957 book ''Energy Transformations in Living Matter'' (written with Hans Kornberg )1 was the first major publication on the thermodynamics of biochemical reactions. In addition, the appendix contained the first-ever published thermodynamic tables, written by K. Burton, to contain equilibrium constants and Gibbs Free Energy of formations for Chemical Specie s, able to calculate Biochemical Reaction s that had not yet occurred. Hans Krebs - 1935 BIOENERGETICS Growth , Development and Metabolism are some of the central phenomena in the study of biological Organisms . Living cells and organisms must perform Work to stay alive, to grow, and to reproduce themselves. The Energy concept is useful to explain such Biological Process es. The ability to harness energy from a variety of metabolic pathways and channellize it into activities of organism is a fundamental property of all living organisms. Sustenance of Life is critically dependent on Energy Transformation s; living organisms survive because of exchange of energy within and without. In a living organism Chemical Bond s are constantly broken and made to make the exchange and transformation of energy possible. These chemical bonds are most often bonds in Carbohydrates , including sugars. Other chemical bonds include bonds in chemical compounds that are important for Metabolism , for example, those in a molecule of ATP or Fats And Oils . These molecules, along with oxygen, are common stores of concentrated energy for the Biological Process es. One can therefore assert that transformation of energy from a more to a less concentrated form is the driving force of all Biological Process es or Chemical Process es that are responsible for the life of a biological organism. Molecular Biology and Biochemistry are in fact scientific studies concerning the making and breaking of chemical bonds in the Molecules found in biological Organisms . Non-equilibrium Thermodynamics has been applied for explaining how biological organisms can develop from disorder. Even with the application of Onsager Reciprocal Relations the classical principles of Equilibrium Thermodynamics show that systems close to equilibrium always develop into states of disorder which are stable to perturbations and cannot explain the occurrence of ordered structures. s are exceptions. They oxidize sulfur, obtaining their energy via Chemosynthesis rather than photosynthesis. The oxygen used to do this is photosynthetically derived, but the sulfur in the thermodynamically unstable, non-oxidized state exists due to geothermal energy. Food, ingested by an organism contains several Chemical Substance s and hence has Chemical Energy . Not all metabolizable energy is available for the production of ATPhttp://www.fao.org/docrep/006/Y5022E/y5022e04.htm. Some energy is utilized during the metabolic processes associated with digestion, absorption and intermediary metabolism of food and can be measured as heat production; this is referred to as dietary-induced thermogenesis (DIT), or thermic effect of food, and varies with the type of food ingested. The predator-prey relationships, Food Chain s, are in effect energy transformations within Ecosystems . THE FOCUS OF THERMODYNAMICS IN BIOLOGY The field of biological thermodynamics is focussed on thermodynamic applications of the principles of . The physical biologist Alfred Lotka attempted to unify the change in the Gibbs free energy with evolutionary theory. SEE ALSO REFERENCES FURTHER READING
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