Quantum secrets of photosynthesis revealed

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psi29a
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Quantum secrets of photosynthesis revealed

Post by psi29a »

http://www.physorg.com/news95605211.html

[quote] Through photosynthesis, green plants and cyanobacteria are able to transfer sunlight energy to molecular reaction centers for conversion into chemical energy with nearly 100-percent efficiency. Speed is the key - the transfer of the solar energy takes place almost instantaneously so little energy is wasted as heat. How photosynthesis achieves this near instantaneous energy transfer is a long-standing mystery that may have finally been solved.

A study led by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) at Berkeley reports that the answer lies in quantum mechanical effects. Results of the study are presented in the April 12, 2007 issue of the journal Nature.

"We have obtained the first direct evidence that remarkably long-lived wavelike electronic quantum coherence plays an important part in energy transfer processes during photosynthesis," said Graham Fleming, the principal investigator for the study. “This wavelike characteristic can explain the extreme efficiency of the energy transfer because it enables the system to simultaneously sample all the potential energy pathways and choose the most efficient one.â€
arke
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Re: Quantum secrets of photosynthesis revealed

Post by arke »

psi29a wrote:Hehehe, wife is going to love this... we have a long running feud about physics and chemistry.
I don't get it. You mean some people actually don't worship physics? (Neat discovery too).
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psi29a
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Post by psi29a »

she is a biology major who's focus was chemistry.
I on the other hand focused more on physics than chemistry.

We both have different approaches to the same problem so it is a running game between us.
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