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Leaves are quantum computers!

A few days ago, a paper was announced suggesting that photosynthesis makes use of some strange quantum effects to gain maximum efficiency. But it was a little short on detail.

SciAm presents a decent layman’s explanation of happening. Basically, the standard model of photosynthesis suggests that the energy ping-pongs from molecule to molecule until it finds one that will release an electron for energy conversion. But the research suggests that the ping-ponging occurs instantaneously, because the cholorphyll acts as a quantum computer. Every conversion path is tested simultaneously, so no energy is lost to dilly-dallying.

If it’s possible to replicate photosynthesis, super-efficient solar cells could result. Of course, that’s a long way off.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 15th, 2007 at 10:45 pm and is filed under Science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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One Response to “Leaves are quantum computers!”

Smallist : Small products, small living, the smallest stuff in the world. » Blog Archive » And yet more Nanotubes, this time in solar cells Says:
April 30th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
[…] “coaxial” style nanotube cables for solar power collection. Remember how plants achieve near 100% efficiency through a quantum effect? It sounds like this is similar. Via […]

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I'm Michael Condouris, and this is my second blog. The first one's Wacky Neighbor. I was born in 1975 in New Jersey. I live in Aberdeen, NJ, with my fiancée Carrie, in our new suburban paradise. We have two pets, a Shih Tzu named Coco and a beagledor named Zoë. I was on Jeopardy once. I lost, though, just like in the Weird Al song.

Besides Smallistry, my interests include robots, space, movies, movies about robots and/or space, and Mexican restaurants. Recently I've also become fond of the Wii and ancient history. I dislike conversations about food, sports, other people's children, and conspiracy theories. I'm ok with talking about the weather though. My hat size is 7 1/4, and I have no sense of smell.

I've pretty much stopped blogging in the last, oh, 6 months or so, because talking about tiny things got a bit stale and life had a habit of getting in the way. So for the time being, the site will live on as a Twitter feed of whatever floats through my head.