Page 113 - Miracles Within the Molecule

ADNAN OKTAR

Cellulose:

The Plant Kingdom's Most Important Architect
Many sub stan ces, from the cel lu lar fuel trans port ed in the blood to
the nec tar pro duced by flow ers, are the result of glu cose mol e cu les com -
bin ing togeth er. One of the most impor tant func tions of glu cose lies in
the cel lu lose struc ture that cov ers a large part of the Earth. Cellulose
con sti tutes 50% of a tree's tis sue and 90% of cot ton. This mol e cule bears
a close resem blance to starch; a basic food the body digests uses as ener -
gy for growth, move ment and think ing.
Starch has a sim i lar molec u lar struc ture to that of glu cose. This
mol e cule, found in large quan ti ties in cere als and pota toes is food stor -
age of devel op ing plant embryo. Seeds there fore con tain high lev els of
starch.
Starch is a fuel for metab o lism; cel lu lose is a spe cial struc tur al
mate ri al for plants. The two mol e cu les are iden ti cal; the only dif fer ence
between the two is the dif fer ence in their molec u lar bonds. Cellulose
mol e cu les have long, straight, rib bon-like chains sup port ed by hydro -
gen bonds among them. These flat rib bons are pack aged togeth er and
the bonds between them fixed to form a hard solid mass. It is the curves
in these bonds that cause starch and cel lu lose mol e cu les, which are
struc tur al ly the same, to exhib it com plete ly dif fer ent char ac ter is tics. 49
The com ing togeth er of uncon scious atoms flaw lessly once again shows
the supe ri or i ty of the cre a tion in the world. The spe cial links between
atoms offer ing a dif fer ence suf fi cient ly wide as to give rise to two basic
mate ri als shows a del i cate bal ance that can not be account ed for in terms
of chance. Allah has cre at ed this spe cial struc ture, as He has all things
in the uni verse.
The prop er ties of cel lu lose go fur ther, how e ver. Cellulose, the main
struc tur al mate ri al of the plant cell wall, is a hard sub stance, insol u ble
in water and is found par tic u lar ly in the pro tec tive cell walls of plants
and all the woody tis sues of trees. Some plants inhab it pos si bly harm ful
envi ron ments. They are some times immersed in salt water or snowmelt
or lake waters where min er al lev els are increased. To pro tect them selves

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