The Quantum-Mechanical Evidence

Permanence Unexplainable By Classical Physics

X-rays revealed 30 years ago the detailed atomic lattice structures of crystals.

the united efforts of biologists and physicists have of late succeeded in reducing the upper limit for the size of the microscopic structure, being responsible for a definite large-scale feature of the individual- the ‘size of a gene’ - and reducing it far below the estimates obtained on pp. 29-30.

How can we statistically reconcile the gene structure having a few atoms but having activity with a durability or permanence that borders on the miraculous?

The Habsburg dynasty has a disfigurement of the lower lip (‘Habsburger Lippe’).

It is caused by a Mendelian ‘allele’ that is carried from generation to generation.

The number of atoms involved in the responsible gene structure is of the same order of magnitude as in the cases tested by X-rays.

The gene has been kept at a temperature around 98°F during all that time.

How does it remain unperturbed by the disordering tendency of heat for centuries?

These material structures are molecules.

But the nature of a molecule was not understood.

Explicable By Quantum Theory

The mechanism of heredity is based on quantum theory discovered by Max Planck in 1900.

Modern genetics can be dated from:

• the rediscovery of Mendel’s paper by de Vries, Correns and Tschermak (1900)
• de Vries’s paper on mutations (1903)

Thus the births of the 2 great theories nearly coincide.

Quantum theory took more than 25 years till 1926 the quantum theory of the chemical bond was outlined by W.Heitler and F. London.

The Heitler-London theory involves the most subtle and intricate conceptions of the latest development of quantum theory (called ‘quantum mechanics’ or ‘wave mechanics’).

A presentation without the use of calculus is well-nigh impossible or would at least require another little volume like this.

But fortunately, now that all work has been done and has served to clarify our thinking, it seems to be possible to point out in a more direct manner the connection between ‘quantumjumps’ and mutations, to pick out at the moment the most conspicuous item.

Quantum Theory - Discrete States - Quantum Jumps

Quantum theory’s feature is discreteness as seen in energy.

A body on the large scale changes its energy continuously.

A pendulum, for instance, that is set swinging is gradually slowed down by the resistance of the air.

Strangely enough, it proves necessary to admit that a system of the order of the atomic scale behaves differently.

On grounds upon which we cannot enter here, we have to assume that a small system can by its very nature possess only certain discrete amounts of energy, called its peculiar energy levels.

The transition from one state to another is a rather mysterious event, which is usually called a ‘quantum jump’.

But energy is not the only characteristic of a system.

Take again our pendulum, but think of one that can perform different kinds of movement, a heavy ball suspended by a string from the ceiling. I t can be made to swing in a north-south or east-west or any other direction or in a circle or in an ellipse. By gently blowing the ball with a bellows, it can be made to pass continuously from one state of motion to any other.

For small-scale sys tems mos t of these or similar characteristics - we cannot enter into details - change discontinuously. They are ‘quantized’,just as the energy is.

The result is that a number of atomic nuclei, including their bodyguards of electrons, when they find themselves close to each other, forming ‘a system’, are unable by their very nature to adopt any arbitrary configuration we might think of. Their very nature leaves them only a very numerous but discrete series of ‘states’ to choose from. I We usually call them levels or energy levels, because the energy is a very relevant part of the characteristic. But it must be understood that the com- plete description includes much more thanjust the energy. It is virtually correct to think of a state as meaning a definite configura tion of all the corpuscles.

The transition from one of these configurations to another is a quantumjump.

If the second one has the greater energy (‘is a higher level’), the system must be supplied from outside with at least the difference of the two energies to make the transition possible. To a lower level it can change spontaneously, spending the surplus of energy in radiation.