quote:
Originally posted by Mozambu:
Isaac Asimov calculates that there are 8*10^27 possible combinations for protein like insuline, but only a very small number of these combinations can be used. If it was possible to produce one of these proteins each second, it would take 10 billion times more than the age of the Universe to get all combinations. These means that a blind evolution, in order to find the few combinations of amino-acids of insulin with biological value, would have to run all possible combinations until the right ones could be positivly selected (The others, of course, would be discarded.)The chances of such miracle are absurd. If we considerer the number of different proteins that ever existed, the absurd is even greater.
Hemoglobin, has a number of possible combinations even greater than insulin -- 135*10^165. Again only a few combinations are real hemoglobin. It would not be possible to have a sample of all hemoglobin combinations because the total numbers of atoms in the Universe is estimated to be 10^78. If we could produce 10^100 combinations per second (in the attempt to find real hemoglobin molecules), we would need at least 10 billion billion billion billion billion Universes each second, for a period of 10 trillion years, in order to produce all combinations of hemoglobin.
If we consider a DNA with 19 bases, there are 27^19 possible combinations capable of producing proteins. With the rate of one combination per second it would take 10^17 seconds (4 billion years) to find all combinations.
Even with small pieces of information, it's very improbable to get valuable biological material, through a blind mechanism of evolution.
We must conclude that we all are the children of these strange odds!!!
Isaac Asimov -- "The Genetic Code"
You have missunderstood one important fact:
-Atoms are not round marbels with no properties. They can only fit together in very specific ways.
This means that if you mix a certain number atoms and molecules at the same conditions, you will get almost only the same products time after time, with some small exceptions. Most of the combinations are unstable, and will never form.
Take polymers, for example. They form molecules that consists of ten-thousands of atoms. They form the same structure every time, (long chains) just you bring the right elements, at the right temperature and pressure.
Matter does this because of the basic laws of the universe forces, and the properties of every atom forces atoms to arange in certain manners.
Imho, none of the figures you presented are correct.
//TechnoCore !!
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