Synthesis of ATP

“Nanotechnology will never work.” Oh, yeah?

There’s a whole book about mitochondria, Power,Sex, Suicide.

Here is a more detailed look at the operation of ATP synthase.

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Computer animation has made understanding biologic processes far more intuitive. When I was studying ATP production, all we had were simple schematics of the chemical steps in the Krebs cycle. No relationships with micro structures were then known.

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It has been fairly common in my career as an engineer to have debates between STEM disciplines on which is the “best”. I like to tease the Chemists and Mechanical Engineers. My spiel goes something like this:

“Electrical Engineering had to help you MEs by creating computers and programs such as AutoCad. We had to do the same thing for Chemistry. The best they could do is randomly mix things together and then try to explain how it worked. We saw you struggling and decided we would hold your hand.”

That usually is my kill shot. But I also like to rip off a line from A Few Good Men. “Electrical Engineers love Chemistry types. When there is a big job that needs to be done, we bring you along to make sure our spelling is correct. But then we decided to program spell check and really don’t need you any longer.”

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Of course, the chemist would then reply that without chemical wizardry such as optically-activated photoresists, chemical vapour deposition, and horrific substances such as chlorine trifluoride, electrical engineers wouldn’t be able to make the semiconductors they use to work their magic.

Personally, I’d never tempt a chemist to come up with a kill shot. They may brew up a flask of FOOF.

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