Workshop on Ion Channels, Thu, 11 Oct, 2007
Speaker: Douglas Henderson
Abstract
Our modern understanding of entropy was developed in Austria by Boltzmann. Equilibrium requires that energy and entropy (yin and yang) be in what Taoist philosophy would call a balanced lationship. Possibly the first example of this was the van der Waals theory of liquids, with long range attraction contributing to the energy and short range repulsion (molecular size) contributing to the entropy. Attempts to extend this theory failed for nearly a century because of an obsession with the energy. Perhaps if Boltzmann had lived longer, this might have been avoided. Only with the development of perturbation theory was the balance between energy and entropy re-established. The role of energy and entropy in these theories will be discussed. It will be shown that the same interplay between energy and size arises in electrolytes, not just in equilibrium but in reactions. Finally, the work of Nonner /et al/ who have shown that this same interplay, or competition, is responsible for the selectivity of calcium and sodium channels in biological membranes, will be discussed. Theories of selectivity that emphasize only electrostatics (energy) are unbalanced and fail.
URL: www.ricam.oeaw.ac.at/specsem/ssqbm/participants/abstracts/index.php
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