Can you explain thermodynamics in 30 seconds?

[Robert Giessmann]

Dear all,

I am happy to share that openTECR, the open database on thermodynamics of enzyme-catalyzed reactions, will have a 5 minute presentation slot at BOSC 2024, the conference on open source bioinformatics and open science, around 15th/16th July 2024.

But 5 minutes of presentation is a challenge, too. In the intro (30 seconds...), I would like to explain the basic concept of Gibbs free energy to people who have never heard of thermodynamics before (or didn't think about it yet in the context of metabolic reactions). Maybe Gibbs energy is too abstract, but enthalpy might work? I'm not sure yet.

In short: I am looking for an example, if possible from everyday life, with which one can illustrate the concept of thermodynamics.

Do you have anything to share? Any example that works great in the classroom, for example?

Thanks so much in advance! Best,

   Robert

[Frank Russo]

Enthalpy is easier, but it leaves out any effect of mass action, which is really important for biochemical reactions and metabolism. One of my favorite analogies is to think of two lakes in a mountain range, connected by a channel. The bottoms of the lakes are at different heights--this is enthalpy, and all else being equal, water will flow from the upper lake to the lower one. But if the lower lake is much fuller, the surface of the lower lake is higher, and water flows into the upper lake. As a bonus for metabolic reactions, the width of the channel represents the capacity of the enzyme, so that equilibration is not immediate. Depending on other flows into or out of either pool, disequilibrium could be maintained indefinitely.

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