The Significance of Non-ergodicity Property of Statistical Mechanics Systems for Understanding Resting State of a Living Cell

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new thermodynamic framework based on non-ergodicity in statistical mechanics to better understand the resting state of living cells, building on Gilbert Ling's model.

Contribution

It proposes a novel thermodynamic approach incorporating non-ergodicity to analyze the stable resting state of cells, extending Ling's qualitative model with quantitative physical insights.

Findings

Developed a thermodynamic model of the cell's resting state

Linked non-ergodicity to physiological phenomena

Provided a basis for further physical analysis of cellular processes

Abstract

A better grasp of the physical foundations of life is necessary before we can understand the processes occurring inside a living cell. In his physical theory of the cell, American physiologist Gilbert Ling introduced an important notion of the resting state of the cell. He describes this state as an independent stable thermodynamic state of a living substance in which it has stored all the energy it needs to perform all kinds of biological work. This state is characterised by lower entropy of the system than in an active state. However, Ling's approach is primarily qualitative in terms of thermodynamics and it needs to be characterised more specifically. To this end, we propose a new thermodynamic approach to studying Ling's model of the living cell (Ling's cell), the center piece of which is the non-ergodicity property which has recently been proved for a wide range of systems in statistical mechanics [7]. These approach allowed us to develop general thermodynamic approaches to explaining some of the well-known physiological phenomena, which can be used for further physical analysis of these phenomena using specific physical models.