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Re: energy in the tank

I still haven't seen any physics-based grounds
for objecting if someone wants to speak of
"high-energy ATP".

John, what did I miss? In my senility I didn't see anyone complaining
about the language "high-energy ATP" Indeed ATP is one of the molecules in
biological systems which has the property of a relatively high energy
level. But it does not "have" high energy as if it has a great amount of
"energy fluid" or the like. It _does_ have the ability to do _work_ on
some other molecules and increase their energy levels -- and in the
process there is a decrease of the net energy level of its
constituents. Of course the deltaE of the entire reaction =0.

This sounds to me like political correctness,
not physics. Sneering at "high-energy ATP"
seems as pointless as declaring war on those
who open their eggs on the wrong end.

Oh, John, clearly it is very wrong to break and egg on
_either_ end. Correctly one should break an egg on it's side. Surely
all physicists understand this.


Jim Green
mailto:JMGreen@sisna.com
http://users.sisna.com/jmgreen