foodchain Posted September 5, 2007 Posted September 5, 2007 I was looking at various images of structure in regards to seeds such as cross section views and what not. I was thinking about the reason for the various arrangements seeds take in that regard and how much of it has to do with aspects such as molecular structure and physical chemistry in application of larger biological structures. I would like to find if the continuity of equilibrium regarding large scale systems comes to apply here. As easy example to look at of course I think is DNA, it has a particular physical structure which relates to its function and or interaction with its surrounding environment. I was wondering about how large a scale this comes to apply, such as in the physiology of a seed or to bone structure.
pioneer Posted September 6, 2007 Posted September 6, 2007 Seeds, like all of level of life uses potential gradients. The food for the seed, and the proteins of what will become the seedling, have two different energy values. The food is higher in calories due to starches and the little sprout is lower in calories due to protein and DNA, etc. This is the potential gradient. What happens the gradient potential lowers with the food being used up and the seedling growing. It is more complicated than that, but do a simple energy balance before and after and one can see that the potential gradient lowers over time. All we need to do is just add is water. The water provides hydrogen bonding, which is the way life connects its potentials for useable work. The seedling itself, is set up as a gradient potential. The top or leaves uses the potential created by the sun and the bottom the potential in the soil. The mature plant then uses this gradient potential to help induce smaller scale potential gradients, for the seeds of the next generation. If we mess with these gradients, no matter how good the genetics, one can end up with runt plants that produce runt seeds. A few bad generations without good gradients and genetics will begin to reflect this. Anyone who grows plants how how important the potential between the light source and the soil is for proper plant growth. If you have bad soil and poor lighting, even good genetics looks like poor genetics.
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