Decoding Life
By : Arvind Bhagwath
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Let me begin
introduction from
quotes of "Bhagavad-Gita"
which deals with the most sacred
metaphysical science.
In Gita,
Lord Krishna said:
The
individual soul (Jiva, energy)
in the body of living beings is the integral part of the
universal Spirit (energy). The individual soul associates
with the six sensory faculties perception and activates
them. The inherent power of cognition and desire of Eternal
Being (Spirit) is called the nature of Eternal Being.
The creative power of Eternal Being (or Spirit) that causes
manifestation of the living entity is called Karma (act).
Any
desire that arise in you (Jiva)
that make you act is the due to the attraction from the
Eternal Spirit.
The action in you is due to the force from the main source
of energy.
So, What is Life?
Life can be defined as an
energy
inside a particular boundary. This energy helps
metabolism to
take place inside the boundary, metabolism helps to
distribute energy and generate information. A genetic
component carries information/energy to other energy
boundary resulting a bi-product being created. This process
repeats until the energy levels are transmitted or
distributed to
maintain
the balance.
The energy
level balance is the law of nature.
At any case, a intermittent or
external energy source is required to
excite a particular
boundary with energy.
When we speak about external energy, the first thing we
remember is Sun's energy.
Yes. To some extent it is true.
All the energy in animals, plants, oil, gas, and coal
originally came from the suns radiation, captured through
photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis is the
process by which plants, some bacteria use the energy from
sunlight to produce sugar, which cellular respiration
converts into ATP, the
"fuel" used by all living things. The conversion of unusable
sunlight energy into usable chemical energy, is associated
with the actions of the green pigment
chlorophyll. Most of the time, the photosynthetic process
uses water and releases the oxygen that we absolutely must
have to stay alive. The Glucose is used as
food as well!
The overall reaction of this process as:
6H2O + 6CO2 + Sun's Energy ---------->
C6H12O6+ 6O2
Animals are carbon dioxide producers that derive their
energy from carbohydrates and other chemicals produced by
plants by the process of photosynthesis.
Living things are composed
primarily of water and organic compounds, enzymes are
protein catalysts that carry out the chemical reactions of
metabolism. All
chemical reactions require activation energy to break
chemical bonds and begin the reaction.
When we speak about animal or plant cells, all cells have
nucleus and this is the 'control centre' of the cell. It
primarily is composed of again carbon (C),
hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and
sulfur (S) in some proteins (particularly enzymes). The
nucleus contains nucleic acids, DNA, and
RNA, which in turn contain C, H, O, N, and P.
Human body or take it any
animals or plants, they are made by following main elements
: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen,
calcium, phosphorus, Potassium, Sulfur, Chlorine, Sodium,
Magnesium, Iron, Cobalt, Copper, Zinc, Iodine, Selenium,
Fluorine.
So finally it is these elements that
act or
react to form
the life.
So, we need to study what makes
them to act or react. Definitely, it is sure that it should
be these atoms that absorb or emit energy from
external source or create
or break chemical bonds which together makes the cells,
organs or body to act.
As we discussed above,
for a life to exists,
at any case, a intermittent or
external energy source is required to
excite a particular
boundary,
so let us study more about external source of
energy. Let's begin with Sun's energy and the
behaviour shown by elements in periodic table.
What are components of Sun's energy and what happens to
atoms when they are hit by Solar radiation?
Solar radiation is radiant energy emitted by the sun from a
nuclear fusion reaction that creates electromagnetic energy
(Electromagnetic Wave).
The radiation from Sun results in Photoelectric effect on
atoms. When an external electromagnetic radiation hits a
atom, we see that electrons exhibits force by external
radiation and gets exited.
If the magnetic force by the
electro-magnetic radiation is too higher than that of force
required for the electrons to spin around the nucleus, then
the electrons are thrown out of axis as free electron.
The changes in electrons in
atoms results
chemical reactions to take place by creating/breaking bonds.
What normally happens to atoms
when they are exited by external light radiation?
It is observed that Light
from the sun hitting moon dust causes it to become charged
through the photoelectric effect. The charged dust then
repels itself and lifts off the surface of the Moon by
electrostatic levitation.
So let us look this behavior by
various elements present in earth.
In general, atoms are most stable when all of their orbital
are occupied by two electrons unless disturbed by external
energy. Isolated atoms, such as hydrogen
(H), carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and oxygen (O), have some
orbitals that are not occupied by two electrons. For
example, hydrogen is an atom that has a single
proton (its nucleus) and a single electron. The electron of
the hydrogen atom is in a 1s orbital. Different types of
atoms (e.g., oxygen and hydrogen) have very
different affinities for electrons. This differential
affinity for electrons is demonstrated with different bonds
or formation of Ions, covalent bond etc.
For instance: Sodium metal has tendency to lose
electron for Sun's radiation and the ferric iron in
the ocean is
ultimate electron acceptor.
I have taken Sodium, since we all know that sodium is
present in great quantities in the earth's oceans as sodium
chloride.
For more details, let us look at
Periodic table below
The most alkali metals have lowest electro negativities
(they tend to lose electrons). Atoms of high electro
negativity (upper right nonmetals) tend to gain electrons.
The alkali metals, found in
group 1 of the periodic table, are highly reactive metals
that do not occur freely in nature. These metals have only
one electron in their
outer shell. Therefore, they are ready to lose that one
electron in ionic bonding with other elements. Metalloids
have properties of both metals and non-metals. Some of the
metalloids, such as silicon and germanium, are
semi-conductors which again show there affinity to light
radiation. This is proved in semi-conductor technology and
when we speak about
Noble gases, they have 8 electrons in their outer shell,
making them stable. These elements have an oxidation number
of 0. This prevents them from forming compounds readily.
NOTE
: 99% of the mass of the human body is made up of
the six main elements : oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen,
calcium, and then other elements that are phosphorus and
then Potassium, Sulfur, Chlorine, Sodium, Magnesium, Iron,
Cobalt, Copper, Zinc, Iodine, Selenium, Fluorine.
Different types of atoms have
very different affinities for electrons and Sun's radiation. If
we take a look of elements in living organisms, we see it is
these elements present in our body in which some are either electron donors and
some are electron acceptors.
Each time when the
atoms are exited by external source
results in partial
charges created. Giving the electrons and
accepting the electrons, we have partial positive and
partial negative charges and these interact with other
partial positive and partial negative charges associated
with other molecules that result in
creation of bonds.
These Bonds lead formation of
Organic molecules. And again,
electrical asymmetries in
these molecules would have resulted in further creation of
complements or living cells and then again some of
molecules in these living cells absorbs the external
radiation and will try to stay stable
state by transferring the energy to do something useful. Can
we now call this balance of charges or electrical
asymmetries as
metabolism.
Even if we check out any living
organism, we see that it is these electrochemical reactions
happening for metabolism, transport of ions across membranes
and growth.
But when did life first arise on Earth?
•
The
Earth is thought to be approximately 4.6 billion
years old, but life is believed to have occurred
approximately 4 billion years ago. There is a idea
that long ago complex collections of chemicals
formed the first cells. Life began in the oceans
from simple chemicals joining together in a
“primordial soup” .Complex chemicals evolved into
living cells.
What were the
conditions like on Earth when life arose?
Organic molecules being formed on the Earth’s surface.
Lightening and ultraviolet radiation from the Sun acted on
the atmosphere to forms small traces of many different
gases, including ammonia (NH3), methane (CH4), carbon
monoxide (CO) and ethane and also, cyanide (HCN) probably
formed easily in the upper atmosphere, from solar radiation
and then dissolved in raindrops.
Can the life be
created now using all the main components for Life?
To some extent, Yes. Consider a very simplest way to create
life using all the main components required for life. For
example, preparing a soup of all the dissolved organic components
and exposing the soup to sun radiation.
When we speak about components, water is the most abundant
molecule on Earth's surface, composing of about 70% of the
Earth's surface. Water also makes up 75 % of the human body.
Modern chemistry explains us how water was formed now or
during primitive earth.
The structural and electrical properties of the water
should be discussed in relation to membrane functions, in
particular transport of ions across membranes.
Water is primarily a liquid under standard conditions,
however, all the elements surrounding oxygen in the
periodic
table, nitrogen, fluorine, phosphorus, sulfur
and chlorine, all combine with hydrogen to produce gases
under standard conditions.
The reason that water forms a
liquid is that it is more electronegative than all of these
elements (other than fluorine). Oxygen attracts electrons
much more strongly than hydrogen, resulting in a net
positive charge on the hydrogen atoms, and a net negative
charge on the oxygen atom. The presence of a charge on each
of these atoms gives each water molecule a net dipole
moment. Electrical attraction between water molecules due to
this dipole pulls individual molecules closer together,
making it more difficult to separate the molecules and
therefore raising the boiling point. This attraction is
known as
hydrogen-bonding.
And again, some elements show
ionic bond when dissolved in water. For instance, when
sodium and chlorine atoms are mixed together, the sodium
atom gives its electron to the chlorine atom. The sodium and
chlorine atoms become the sodium and chloride ions (Na and Cl, respectively). The sodium and chloride ions
have opposite electrical charges and so the two ions are
electro statically attracted to each other. The
electrostatic attraction between two ions, each with a full
(not partial) electric charge, is called an
ionic-bond.
These electrochemical reactions are
very much necessary for transport of ions across membranes.
Now create a soup with water and amphiphilic molecules. The
amphiphilic molecules forms a oily surface. One end interact
with water and one end does not interact with water. These
molecules automatically self-assemble to form bi-layers.
These are the technique used to make up the walls of our
cells and several research and available fossils
demonstrates the formation of organic soup during primitive
earth.
So we can assume that there could be some molecules trapped
in-between bilayer and we have learnt that different
molecules behave differently with Sun radiation.
Expose the bilayer with Sun's radiation, some of
molecules or elements sensitive to light radiation absorbs the light and becomes excited resulting in
formation of bonds and chemical reaction results in action
or we can call them as metabolism. This is because,
energy level
balance has to take
place and the molecule can not stay in an excited stable
state for long time and the the excitation energy to be
transferred to maintain the balance.
Let us check this more with modern
fuel cells designed.
We all know that modern fuel cell design works on almost
similar principle. In essence, a fuel cell works by
catalysis, separating the component electrons and protons of
the reactant fuel, and forcing the electrons to travel
through a circuit, hence converting them to electrical
power. The waste products with
these types of fuel cells are carbon dioxide and water.
During primitive earth, we can assume there could be a 'n'
numbers of bi-layers formed, energy trapped in bi-layer
resulting in metabolism to take place.
We can even think of carbon
metabolism that is now happening in plants cells due to
Sun's radiation.
6H2O + 6CO2 + Sun radiation
----------> C6H12O6+ 6O2
The released oxygen could be absorbed by other bilayer and
breaking the carbohydrates again again into CO2 and water.
This is nothing but cellular
respiration and ATP generation.
Take for example, Microbial fuel cells that is used these
modern days. When micro-organisms consume a substrate such
as sugar in aerobic conditions they produce carbon dioxide
and water. However when oxygen is not present they produce
carbon dioxide, protons and electrons as described below:
C12H22O11 + 13H2O ---> 12CO2 + 48H+
+ 48e-
Microbial fuel cells use inorganic mediators to tap into the
electron transport chain of cells and steal the electrons
that are produced.
Even when we speak about cell
evolution, it is assumed that first cell types were
heterotrophic cells which were incapable of producing their
own food and then autotrophs which can produce chemicals to
store energy and then chemoautotroph which can
store energy
found in certain inorganic chemicals. and then prokaryotes,
2 - 1.5 billion years ago and then – eukaryotes which had
membranes to isolate certain chemical reactions and cellular
life then evolved into what we know today.
But we still need to learn more to make the excitation
energy reproduce.
Let us study more about HYDROGEN BONDING:
Hydrogen bonds are critically important in biology because
they help explain the solubility of molecules in water, the
structure of macromolecules (such as DNA and protein), and
the formation of stable lipid bilayer membranes.
Even when we speak about DNA
in animal or plant cells, Hydrogen bonding
is the chemical mechanism that underlies the base-pairing
rules.
Hydrogen bonds are weak electrostatic attractions between
atoms displaying partial positive and partial negative
charges. The partial positive charges are produced when
hydrogen atoms are associated with another atom through a
polar covalent bond. The partial negative charges are
associated with an atom (e.g., oxygen) that has a higher
affinity for electrons.
The oxygen atom has two pairs of electrons in its outermost
energy level that are not in bonding orbitals. These four
electrons form a negatively charged "cloud" of electron
density on the side of the water molecule opposite from the
hydrogen atoms. The oxygen atom is much more electronegative
than the hydrogen atom, so, when a bonding orbital forms
between the oxygen and hydrogen atoms, the electrons in the
bonding orbital are disproportionately distributed toward
the oxygen side of the polar covalent bond. This results in
a partial negative charge
(-) associated with the oxygen
atom. The full positive charge of the hydrogen nucleus is
poorly covered by the thin electron density and "shows
through", resulting in a partial positive charge (+).
The weak electrostatic attraction
between the partial negative and partial positive charges is
a hydrogen bond.
In molecular biology, two nucleotides on opposite
complementary DNA or RNA strands that are connected via
hydrogen bonds are called a base pair.
 
Even in DNA, the law of energy level balance holds good. A a string of DNA acts as
a template for producing another string that is its "negative",
that is has the same encoding but with each nucleotide
replaced with its "complement": adenine for thymine
and thymine for adenine, and
cytonine for
guanine and
guanine for
cytonine. The process occurs in
water and begins when the complements are attracted to the
DNA nucleotides by "polar" bonds. A polar bond is created by
the weak electrical asymmetries in a molecule. Once the new
DNA is complete, it can detach from the old one by the
breaking of those polar bonds. This
is how a cell division occurs and we find the growth.
Hence coming back to
electronics basics, it the external source that excite the
atoms resulting in formation of bonds (creating partial
positive and negative charges) and
resulting in growth.
Appropriate geometrical
correspondence of hydrogen bond donors and acceptors allows
only the "right" pairs to form stably.
Within cells, DNA is organized into structures called
chromosomes. These chromosomes are duplicated before cells
divide, in a process called DNA replication. Eukaryotic
organisms such as animals, plants, and fungi store their DNA
inside the cell nucleus, while in prokaryotes such as
bacteria it is found in the cell's cytoplasm. Within the
chromosomes, chromatin proteins such as histones compact and
organize DNA. These compact structures guide the
interactions between DNA and other proteins, helping control
which parts of the DNA are transcribed.
DNA contains the genetic information that allows all modern
living things to function, grow and reproduce.
If we go still deeper, we see that
RNA or DNA replication are environmentally forced. In recent
research it is seen that sun cycle (day and night) could
have forced the replication process triggering in growth.
RNA or DNA strands that we currently have in cells are due
to a large number of variations that led into forming pair.
4-billion-year of evolution has resulted forming from a
basic pair to
3000000000 DNA nucleotide pairs that we
currently have in human. We still see same less pairs in
bacteria (about 400000 DNA nucleotide pairs).
When we speak about environmentally forced replication, we
can assume that instead of a self replication, there was at
first a primitive, sun-forced replication process and this
led to form basic pairs, replicate and growth.
The variation in solar radiation or energy resulted in
organic synthesis. Further there is assumption that there
was a shorter day/night cycle, due to the faster rotation of
primitive earth. The variation in sun energy has resulted in
creating and breaking bonds (opposite charges) which are the
most essential factor for growth.
This might put
you in some really curious questions like the ones below:
1.Why do we take birth and why do we die?
2.Why do we feel pleasure and pain?
3.Why do we love and why do we hate? Who brings the desire
or revulsion in us?
4.Why do we cry and why do we laugh? Also, why do we sleep?
5.Why do we feel disturbed when someone dislikes us?
6.Why do we dream to achieve a goal?
7.What makes us to bring an unsecured and unsatisfied
feeling even after achieving something that we wanted?
8.And someone might have questions like - what is life? Is
there a creator?
9.
Also, why do we
sleep, eat, respire, reproduce?
Think, Think and Think. Go to basics again, an
external energy source is required to
excite. It is the forces
of Nature do all works.
To learn more about mind and
spirituality, I suggest please visit Spirituality Article -
"Reaching
the creator".
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