Re: [asa] Interesting Article

Fascinating idea. I once took a graduate level course in system simulation.
One project we did involved maritime trade though a simulated harbor with
poisson arrivals. I lived at sea at one time in my life and have lived in
two harbors and found it an intriguing subject to model. Simulations seem
to me to be a good tool for solving non-linear systems that cannot be solved
analytically.

The problem, of course, is accurately stating the physical laws one is
simulating. To me this is still just statistical mechanics. That is the
place to start. So as background material once more I am going to point to
Physical Chemistry, A Molecular Approach, by Donald McQuarrie and John D.
Smith. Chapter 17 on the Boltzmann factor and partition functions is a
critical juncture. (This book was chopped in half and published as
Molecular Thermodynamics). What I don't know, but what I'd like to find out,
is how to calculate partition functions for the formation of
biomolecules. When we argue over whether something biological is likely or
probable, what we are really arguing over is the nature of the partition
function.

-Dave

PS, I don't understand how a simulation would incorporate that, but I do
know there s/b more discussions of partition functions.

On Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 9:35 AM, Christine Smith <
christine_mb_smith@yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> Hi all,
>
> Thought this might be of interest to people:
> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31710634/ns/technology_and_science-science/
>
> In Christ,
> Christine
>
> "For we walk by faith, not by sight" ~II Corinthians 5:7
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Received on Mon Jul 6 11:23:01 2009