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Inner World of the Cell

Size of Cells and the Components

Size of Cells Energy at Nanoscale Figure 02 shows three types of single cell from the rather primitive virus to the fully developed eukaryote. Their size varies from 10-6 cm to 0.1 cm. The components within these cells are mainly proteins, which are macro-molecules having a size range from 10-7 cm to 5x10-6 cm. These parts in nano-scale is critical for the emergence of life. As shown in Figure 03, it is only at this size

Figure 02 Size of Cells [view large image]

Figure 03 Various Forms of Energy at Nanoscale

that the chemical, electrical, mechanical, and thermal energies have about the same scale allowing easy conversion from one form to another. The synthesis of ATP in the mitochondria is a very
good example to show the conversion of the energy to different forms from chemical to electrical to mechanical and finally back to chemical while thermal energy becomes the byproduct in this chain of processes. Actually, it will be shown later that the thermal energy can be harnessed to perform useful service. Other examples are the molecular motors to be discussed presently in the followings.

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