Entropy Production and the Origin of Life

Karo Michaelian

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DOI: 10.4236/jmp.2011.226069                

Abstract

All irreversible processes arise and persist to produce entropy. Entropy production is not incidental to such processes, but rather the very reason for their origin and persistence. Here we take such a thermodynamic perspective on the origin of life, recognizing that entropy production is not only the vital force of life, but the fundamental link between life in the biosphere today and its origin in the Archean. Today the greatest en-tropy production in the biosphere is due to visible photon absorption and dissipation into heat by organic material in liquid water and the subsequent degradation of the established heat gradient through the water cycle. Following this link back in time to the Archean environment leads to a suggestion for a mechanism for the origin of life based on UV photon absorption and dissipation by RNA and DNA.

Keywords

Origin of Life, Entropy Production, RNA, DNA, Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics, UVTAR

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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