Page 111 - Miracles Within the Molecule

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wrought. The mol e cule that emer ges is strong er and hard er, which is
why claws and nails are so hard. Unlike the ker a tin in other struc tures,
the ker a tin mol e cu les that con sti tute silk—the solid i fied form of a liq uid
secret ed by many insects and spi ders—are not in a spi ral form. Instead,
they form hard amino acid pla ques piled atop one anoth er. You can feel
this flat, lay er ed struc ture when you touch a piece of silk. Silk stretch es
less than wool does because the pol y pep tide chain form ing it is already
extend ed to almost its full extent. But it is still flex i ble because the pla -
ques are bound to each other by hydro gen bonds. Because of these loose
hydro gen bonds, the pla ques can eas i ly slide over one anoth er. 48
All these fea tures reveal what a spe cial mol e cule ker a tin is. Because
of its many var i ous fea tures, ker a tin can be used in many ways and is
the prin ci pal mate ri al in a great many sub stan ces. For exam ple, skin and
nails are very dif fer ent from wool, yet all three con sist of ker a tin and
acquire their own par tic u lar char ac ter is tics because of ker a tin's spe cif ic
fea ture. It is impor tant for skin and hair to be elas tic, yet nails must be
hard. Silk needs a flat struc ture in order to be able to present a
smooth appear ance.
What's note wor thy is that in all these sub stan ces, ker a tin
serves as a pro tec tor. With its unique molec u lar struc ture,
ker a tin pro tects the skin against exter nal fac tors, and
deter mines its struc ture in a par tic u lar man ner. With its
unique molec u lar struc ture ker a tin makes skin pro -
tect ed against exter nal fac tors, and deter mines its
struc ture in a par tic u lar man ner. To give an exam -
ple, the porous nature of skin is of vital impor -
tance to human beings' sur viv al For exam -
ple, were it not for this porous struc ture
of the skin, it would be impos si ble for
excess heat and water to leave the

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