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The Kinetics of Biological Systems

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Abstract

This section provides an introduction to the basic ideas of systems theory as applied to living organisms which is an important part of theoretical biophysics. Originally, thermodynamics, as a universal theory of energetic basis of all movements in nature, and kinetics, as a theory of time courses of predicted processes, were considered as two separate theoretical approaches. Thermodynamics answers the questions: what are the reasons for, the driving force of, and the direction of a movement, and what, finally, is the equilibrium situation which will be arrived at if the energetic potentials are equilibrated? Kinetics, on the other hand, just studies the course of a given reaction, its time constants and rates, possible stationary states, stabilities, and oscillations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Humboldt-Universität, Berlin, Germany

    Roland Glaser

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  1. Roland Glaser
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Correspondence to Roland Glaser .

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Glaser, R. (2012). The Kinetics of Biological Systems. In: Biophysics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25212-9_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25212-9_5

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-25211-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-25212-9

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