Into the Cool: Energy Flow, Thermodynamics, and Life [New ed.] 0226739376, 9780226739373

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47 organic molecules: absorption by membrane surfaces, 181; meteorites and, 174, 179; solar energy stored in, 220; in submarine vent environment, 180 organisms: gradient reduction, 210, 211, 271; machines compared, 325; as open systems, 311-12, 321-22; selfhood of, 311-12; as tubes, 30910. See also life organization: crowding effect on, 288; economics and, 279, 283-84, 288; by energy, 310; functional, 302; open nonequilibrium systems and, 32829; order compared, 16, 20; selforganization, 32-33, 84-85, 175, 264, 329; as term for life, 16, 36 Orgel, Leslie, 162 overpopulation, 281, 297, 298 oxidative stress, 269-71 oxygen, 172-74, 209-10, 220, 263 269, 282,287,318 ozone production, 164 Pagels, Heinz, 320 Paley, William, 315

358

Index

The Panda's Thumb (Gould), 170 paramecium, 85-86 parasites, 169 Parmenides, 53 passenger pigeons, 243 Pasteur, Louis, 16) P/B ratio. See production/biomass (P/B) ratio Peacocke, Arthur, 87 Pearson, R. A., 1 19 pendulum, as example o f energy transformation, 27, perception, difference from reality, 277-78, 286, 289 perpetual-motion machine, 36, 6 6 Perspectives in Ecological Theory (Margalef), 194 phosphorus, 186-87, 2 3 » 2 97 photoautotrophy, 186 photons, 107, 220, 330 photosynthesis, 220-21, 244, 296, 330 phototropism, 329 phytoplankton, 191, 195,212 piston, 42, 42f Planck, Max, 67, 9 0 plants: dissipative processes, 157, 22324, 329; evolution, 155; intelligences, 55, 156; recycling o f chemical elements by, 186; transpiration, 221-23, 229; trees, 216-24 platelets, 267 Plato, 37, 58, 300, 307 Poincard, Jules-Henri, 47, 56-58 poker analogy, 237 pollution, 285-86 polyaminomalonitrile, 184 Popper, Karl, 102, 162, 181, 277, 286, 316 population dynamics, 147 population ecology, 188, 191 positive feedback system, 9 6 power: conservation of, 328; maximum power principle, 148 pressure, barometric, 132-33, 136 pressure gradient, 75f, 125-30; wind systems and, 132—36, i34f

pressure-volume-temperaturerelationships, 41-42, 54, 132 price differentials, 276, 278, 289 Prigogine, Ilya, 58, 76, 81-82, 189, 313 principle o f spite, 7 6 probability theory, Boltzmann and, 47-49 production/biomass (P/B) ratio, 201, 203, 212-13 proton gradient, 318 proton rotary motor, 317-19 purpose in life, 299—326; gradient reduction, 302-6, 308-11, 314; history o f thought on, 300-301; religion and, 300-301, 303, 306-7, 309, 314-15, 317-22, 325-26; teleology, 301, 3067> 3*3* 3 J 9; pyrite, 177, 182-83 Pythagoras, 37

30 6 - 8 * 3 I 2 “*4

quantum mechanics, 67, 6 8 The Quarkand the Jaguar (Gell-Mann), 23 radiation gradient, 107 rain forest, 227-28, 229, 235, 242, 248, 304 Randall, Merle, 69-70 randomness, 47-48, 5 0 Ray, Tom, 160 Rayleigh, Lord, 1 16, 1 18 Rayleigh number, 117, 121 reality versus perception, 277-78, 286, 289 reciprocity relationships, 80, 86 recurrence theorem, 56, 5 7 recycling: by ecosystems, 187, 202—3; sustainability and, 197 Redi, Francesco, 161 redox gradient, 43-45, 118, 279, 297, 318 reducing environment, 170-72 reflexivity, 278 relativity theory, 58 religion, 300-301, 303, 306-7, 309, 31415,317-22,325-26 remote sensing, 232-34

Index replication: connection to metabolism, 165-69; errors, 239; genetic takeover, 165, 177; nucleotide, 165; origin of, 163; as process o f stable gradient degradation, 117 repopulation, o f damaged ecosystems, 2 reproduction: chemical, 303; complexity and, 236; error tolerance, 169; genetic takeover, 165, 177; as means o f gradient reduction, 84, 239; meiosis, 241; sex, 154-55; Taylor vortices, 130; thermodynamic basis of, 106-7 reptiles, 268 respiration, 254, 255 287 reversibility paradox, 56 ribozymes, 167 Rifkin, Jeremy, 189, 285 RNA: as laboratory-made life, 160; origin of, 163; replication, 98, 168; selfcatalysis, 167; selfish, 168 RNA world, 163, 167 Rohde, K., 251-52 Rosen, Robert, 139 Rossler, Otto E., 64 rotational pressure gradient, 125-30 Ruse, Michael, 315 Rutherford, Lord, 6 7 Salvador!, Neri, 286 Saunders, Howard, 248 Savonarola effect, 287 scanning tunneling microscope ($TM), 64 Schrodinger, Erwin: biography of, 1 1 12; Dublin lectures (1943), 11-19, 166, 325; influence o n Watson and Crick, xiv; life as a material system, n-15; negative entropy, 15, 17-19, 165, 189; order from disorder, 1519, 165; paradox, 15, 19; What Is Life? xiv, 7, 147, 165, 325 Schrodinger’s cat, 12 Schumpeter, Joseph, 285 Schwartzman, David, 257 scientific method, 176 The Second L a w (Atkins), 21

359

second law o f thermodynamics: economics and, 285-86; evolution and, 237-41, 251-52; fourth law o f thermodynamics and, 91-92; history, 36, 44, 90; irreversible processes and, 72-74; life as manifestation of, xivxv, 7-8, 82-84, I O 5”7» 3°°» nonequilibrium thermodynamics (NET) and, 51; probabilistic nature of, 60-61; purpose in life and, 321, 323; Schrodinger paradox and, 1518; teleomatics of, 307-8; timedirectionality and, 57; unification and simplification of, 75 selection: directionality, 254; thermodynamics and, 238-41, 251-52; units of, 239-40. See also natural selection self, concept of, 1 1 1-12, 311-12 selfish genes, 1 1 1, 167 self-organization, 32-33, 84-85, 175, 264,329 The Self-Organizing Universe (Jantsch), 103 Sellers, Pierre, 229 Selye, Hans, 270 senescence, 264-66 sensible heat, 226, 231, 233 Sepkoski, John, 242f SETi (search for extraterresterial intelligence) sex, thermodynamics and, 154-55, 3°5 sexual selection, 150-51 Shakespeare, William, 131 Shannon, Claude, 20 Sherman, Kenneth, 207 shock, 270 shock waves, 86-87 Silent Spring (Carlson), 192 silicon, 172 simplicity, 25 sinusoidal wave, cyclic, 95 slime mold, 155-56, 295 Smil, Vaclav, 144, 160 Smith, Adam, 293 Smolin, Lee, 55, 59, 303 Smoluchowski, Marian von, 64

360

Index

Snow, C . P., 8 societies, selection and, 239-40 Socrates, 3 7 Socratia, 156 solar energy/radiation: absorption by plant tissue, 156-57; capture by trees, 218-20, 219C conversion to biomass, 157; degradation by plants, 220; ecosystem complexity and, 23 it; reradiation into space, 226-27, 227!*, 233ft spectrum, 221; storage in organic molecules, 220; surface receipt of, 221-22, 222ft unequal distribution to Earth’s surface, 232ft 246 solar gradient, 39, 1 18, 304; amount of, 164-65; effect o n global weather, 136-37; reduction, 157, 202, 228 Soros, George, 277-78, 286 Spallanzani, Lazzaro, 161 species: definition, 243-44; distribution of, 244-47; proliferation, 241-52 species diversity, 194, 208, 241-52, 242ft and available energy, 235, 246-47, 251; causes o f large-scale, 2451; decline, human-caused, 241-42; and elevation, 247; and environmental variability, 248; mass extinctions, 252-53; measures of, 244; and organism size, 248-50 spectral flux photometer, 226 Spencer, Herbert, 188 sperm, 218 Spinoza, Baruch, 307 spirals, in Assenheimer-Steinberg experiments, 120-21 stable equilibrium, law of, 75 Stamets, Paul, 242 star formation, 170 steady-state system, 79, 327 steam engines, 37-38 Stehli, Frank, 246 Steinberg, Victor, 120 Stengers, Isabelle, 81 Sterling engine, 45 STM (scanning tunneling microscope), 64

Stoics, 5 3 stomata, 221-22, 329 storm systems, 131-38 stress: cellular, 269-72; ecosystem regression and, 207-15, 2151; global economies and, 295 strokes, 267 The Structure o f Evolutionary Theory (Gould), 313 Strutt, John William (Lord Rayleigh), 116 succession, 189-206, 199ft 2O$f; evolution compared, 235-37 sugars, 174, 217 sulfur hexafluoride, 120-21 sulfur metabolism, 181 sun, thermodynamic cycles and, 94-95. See also solar energy/radiation supernova, 172-73, 253 superoxide, 269 supply and demand, 278, 280, 289, 292-93 surface tension, 116, 119 sustainability, 296-98 Swenson, Rod, 189 swirling systems, metastability in, 1 12 systems theory, 104 Szent-Gyorgyi, Albert von Nagyrapolt, 107 Szilard, Leo, 63, 6 6 Tait, Peter Guthrie, 61 Taper, Mark, 249 Taylor, G . L, 125, 127 Taylor number, 127, 129 Taylor vortices, 125-30, 126ft i28f, 2078,329 Teilhard d e Chardin, Pierre, 314 telecommunications, 289, 290 teleology, 301, 306-7, 313, 319 telomeres, 262 temperature: absolute zero, 41-42, 54, 90, 272; black body, 225; ecosystem, 229-34, 232f,233f temperature gradient, 38, 45, 62, 11 1, 304; Blnard systems, 1 12-15, 1 1 9’>

Index Earth’s pole-to-pole, 136-37; ecological richness and, 225; Fourier’s law and, 327; hurricanes and, 134-35 temporal gradient, 292, 324 thermal infrared multispectral scanner (riMs), 230 thermal noise, 88 thermodiffusion, 80 thermodynamic equilibrium, Schrodinger and, 17 thermodynamics: heat death o f the universe, 5-6; history of, 4-6, 34-46, 72-77; origin o f term, xii; principles in open systems, 327-30; restrictions o n systems under study, 25-26 thermodynamics o f life: contributors to study, 104; deferral o f gradient breakdown, 154; history, 146-59; sex and gradient reduction, 154-55 thermometer, 34-35 thermophiles, 174, 181 thermoscope, 34 thermosphere, 38-39 third law o f thermodynamics, 42, 9 0 Thomas Aquinas, Saint, 300 Thompson, Benjamin (Count Rumford), 39-40 Thompson, D’Arcy, 18-19 Thomson, Baron William (Lord Kelvin), 40, 56, 9 0 Thomson, Sir J. J., 6 7 Thoreau, Henry David, 189 Thorpe, Edward O., 291 thunderstorms, 132-33 time: Augustine and, 48; direction, 4748, 52-53, 57-58; probability theory and, 47-48; recurrence theorem, 56, 57; thermodynamics and, 36-37, 44-46 time’s arrow, 57, 8 2 TIMS (thermal infrared multispectral scanner), 230 Tipler, Frank J., 189 Tolstoy, Leo, 151 tornadoes, 132-34 Tornado in a Bottle, 131-32, i32f

361

total system throughput, 199, 200, 214-15 Toussaint, Oliver, 269-72 toxicity experiments, 1-2 trade, 276, 279, 281, 283-84, 286, 287, 289-90, 292, 294 transcription, 143-44 transpiration, 157, 221-23, 2 2 7 2 2 9> 2 35» 244,246-47,329 transportation gradient, 293 trees, 216-24; deforestation, 229, 234, 242-43; as dissipative systems, 22324, 329; entropy production, 329; importance of, 217; shape, 219; sizefrequency distribution, 249; solar

energy capture, 218-20, 2i9f; transpiration, 221-23, 2 2 9 Trewavas, Anthony, 156 trophic levels, 191-92, 193 202 Turner, J. Scott, 11 1, 148 Twain, Mark, 189 Two Cultures anda Second Loo (Snow), 8 Tzu, Chuang, vii Ulanowicz, Robert, 99-102, 204, 205, 275,312,329 The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Kundera), 56 unifying principle o f thermodynamics,75 universe, expansion of, 58-59, 324 “use it or lose it” concept, 263-66, 266f, 268, 271 Utricularia, 101 vacuum, nature’s abhorance of, 6 vents, ocean, 177-81, 184 Vernadsky, Vladimir, 145, 153, 196, 281, 288 Victoroff, Jeff, 266, 273 Vienna Circle, 6 7 Volterra, Vito, 147, 194 von Mises, Ludwig, 275, 280 von Neumann, John, 20, 169 vortex, Taylor, 125-30, iz6f, ia8f, 2078,329

362

Index

Wachtershauser, Gunter, 181-83, 2 6 Wagensbcrg, Jorge, 85 waste: heat, 44-45, 85, 186; recycling, 85; use by other organisms, 44; work from, 65 water condensation, 133, 135-36 waterfall analogy, 3 8 water-quality assessment, 1-2 Watts, Alan, 125, 216, 309 wave function, 1 1 wealth, 280, 281 The Wealth of Nations (Smith), 293 weather, 131-38 Weaver, Warren, 2 0 Weber, Bruce, 238 Weinberg, Steven, 25 Weiner, Norbert, 324 West, Geoffrey, 249 Westbroek, Peter, 240 What Evolution Is (Mayr), 254 What Is Life? (Schrodinger), xiv, 7, 147, 165.325 whirlpool, 131-32 Whittaker, Robert J., 250 Wicken, Jeffrey, 16, 105-7, 1 57”5 » I 5» 167-68, 240 Wickramasinghe, Chandra, 175 Wilde, Oscar, 275

Wiley, E . O . , 189 Williams, Garnett, 30 Williams, R. J. P., 163-64 Williamson, Donald, 321 Willis, Katherine, 250 Wilson, E. O., 185, 193, 244, 247, 248 wind systems, 132-36, 133C I34f Woese,Carl, 181 wolves, 187-88 Wbodwell, George, 21 1 work: free energy and, 68-69; gradients and, 38-39; from heat, 38, 45, 73; as method o f energy transfer, 2 7 Wright, David, 247 Wright, Robert, 314 Wright, Scwall, 238 Yates, Eugene, 86, 264-66, 308, 313 Yellowstone National Park, 187-88, 204, 243 Yockey, Hubert, 2 2 Zermelo, Ernst, 57, 67 Zeroth law o f thermodynamics, 9 0 Zhabotinsky, Anatol M., 9 6 zooplankton, 101, 191, 194, 195, 212 Zotin, Alexander, 209, 254-55, 2 55