Page 108 - A Chain of Miracles

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A A Chain of Miracles

The viscosity of water
is of vital importance
to living things. If it
were slightly weaker,
then it would be impos-
sible for the capillary
vessels to carry blood.

Would it make a difference to us if its viscosity were greater or

smaller? Professor Denton answers these questions:
The fitness of water would in all probability be less if its viscosity
were much lower. The structures of living systems would be sub-
ject to far more violent movements under shearing forces if the
viscosity were as low as liquid hydrogen...If the viscosity of water
was much lower, delicate structures would be easily disrupted...
and water would be incapable of supporting any permanent in-
tricate microscopic structures. The delicate molecular architecture
of the cell would probably not survive.

If the viscosity was higher, the controlled movement of large
macromolecules and particularly structures such as mitochondria
and small organelles would be impossible, as would processes
like cell division. All the vital activities of the cell would be effec-
tively frozen, and cellular life of any sort remotely resembling that

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