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From: "Enzo Di Giulio" <mc5581@mclink.it>
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Subject: Electroscalene Theory (E.S.T.)-Synopsis
Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2003 09:49:10 +0100
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    Electroscalene Theory (E.S.T)- Synopsis.

    The heteroatomic character of organic molecules active in living
organism makes it possible to interpret some of their behavior by studying
the properties of clusters of linked electric charges.
    These properties show up with unexpected effects in electrostatic fields
of the space charge type.While in dielectric fields of conventional
applications the potential is subject to the Laplace equation and for the
force acting on a cluster there no possibility of equilibrium. fields
operating in media with a diffuse (space) charge the relevant equation
(Poisson equation) permits of equilibrium positions, if some conditions
linking field parameters with field parameters are met.
    In living organisms the medium is an ionic solution and this provides a
space charge.For many phenomena it becomes the possible to get approximate
but meaningful descriptions. For instance the fitting of a substrate in the
active site of an enzyme can be brought back to the existence of an
equilibrium position (including orientation) in the electrostatic field
existing in the active site.
    These interactions can be qualitatively checked in elementary models. In
the simplest case it is easy to produce formulas that show the kind of
conditions that must hold for equilibrium to exist. In this it is essential
that the field shows intensity and/or direction gradients of the same order
of magnitude
as the physical size of the cluster (effects cannot show in common
laboratory setups as used, for instance, in electrophoresis).
    In these conditions is the origin of one of the most intriguing features
of biological reactions: specificity.
    Many of the above considerations can be extended from molecules to
cells, providing information as to the construction of organisms.
    The name 'electroscalene' has been adopted to stress the fact that lack
of symmetry, and more generally lack of regularity, both in architectural
parameters and charge values, is an essential feature. Here as in other
science lanes the euclidean love for geometrical 'perfection' leads to
emptiness.

EdG/01












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