The Natural Selection of the Chemical Elements The Environment and Life's Chemistry

by Williams, R. J. P.; Fraústo da Silva, J. J. R.

• ISBN13: 9780198558422
• ISBN10: 0198558422
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-05-29
• Publisher: Clarendon Press

Summary

This beautifully written book is a study of the physical relationship between the inanimate environment and living organisms. It describes how the evolution of both has been interactive and interdependent; the authors show that this can be explained in terms of the properties of the chemical elements and their compounds. The book discusses the physical and chemical balances between the animate and inanimate worlds, with kinetic and thermodynamic principles given to support this analysis. These principles are applied to both organic and inorganic chemical systems to provide a basis for understanding the evolution of life in terms of the interaction of both types of chemistry within ever more complex organizations. The book concludes with an examination of an intriguing problem: the long-term consequences of our manufacture and exploitation of chemicals. This intervention may be altering the symbiotic relationship between life and the environment, an issue of great concern to ecologists and biologists as well as those who study chemistry.

Table of Contents

The development of man's ideas concerning nature

Order in chemical systems: Elements and their combinations

The balance between order and disorder

Phase equilibria

Equilibria in dilute solutions in water

Limited phases, fields and compartments

Evolution of kinetic control and of organisation

The evolution of inorganic chemicals on Earth

The evolution of organic compounds

Early biological chemistry: The uptake and incorporation of elements in anaerobic organisms

Early cellular organisation in anaerobes

The structure and chemistry of organisms after the advent of dioxygen

Organisation in advanced organisms

Man's selection of the chemical elements

Element cycles and their evolution

The evolving natural selection of the chemical elements and the senses

Index

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