SOLAR SECRETS

Everybody needs to know what it means to make a "quantum leap" and when you get the idea, you've made a quantum leap toward understanding how things really work.

Berkeley scientists look up to garden for solar energy secrets; Research discovers link between bacteria and quantum physics in conversion of sunlight
Ian Hoffman, April 15, 2007 (InsideBayArea.com)

WHO
Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley; Team leaders: Professors of Chemistry Graham Flemming and Gregory Engel.

WHAT
Plants and bacteria which perform photosynthesis, that is convert sunlight into the energy necessary for life processes, do so by making efficient, identifiable leaps to higher levels of energy, called quantum leaps. Of all the possible pathways to sequential functional levels, the plant seemingly instinctively finds the most energy efficient pathway. This minimizes the loss of energy in the usually 99% efficient conversion process.

WHEN
The very difficult experiments have not yet been performed at room temperature so the results are not conclusive. Practical applications have only been hypothesized.

WHERE
Berkeley, California.

WHY
Understanding the efficiencies of photosynthesis may make it possible to develop more efficient methods of capturing solar energy and converting it to electricity. Solar cells are presently made from semi-conductor materials but nature uses simple pigments and proteins to turn sunlight into energy at a much higher rate of efficiency.

QUOTES
- "The effect is like if you're trying to run in a maze but instead of having to choose which way to go, you could choose to go several ways at once," said lead author Gregory Engel…
- "When you just had this random hopping model, it was hard to see how there could be no energy loss," said Petra Fromme, a professor and biophysical chemist at Arizona State University, where several research groups are working on artificial photosynthesis.
"I think it's a pretty big deal…"
- Engel: "Nature will be likely to take advantage of any benefit that it can find, which includes these quantum calculations…"
- Fromme: "First we have to learn how nature is doing it then we can learn how to do it…In principle, they don't mimic nature at present."