the rippling surface of a single layer of water molecules
[Read more: http://tech-wonders.blogspot.com/2011/02/best-science-pictures-of-2010.html#ixzz1Nnv4QCHb
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution]
the rippling surface of a single layer of water molecules
[Read more: http://tech-wonders.blogspot.com/2011/02/best-science-pictures-of-2010.html#ixzz1Nnv4QCHb
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution]
Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) Synthase is a protein which converts the potential energy of an electrochemical Hydrogen ion gradient into the ATP energy currency, which is used in countless metabolic reactions in the cell.
Hydrogen ions enter the proton channel (blue), and cause the axle (cyan) to rotate. Axel rotation inside the F1 subunit (red) causes an ADP molecule to bind to a phosphate molecule, forming ATP. The Stator (orange) holds the F1 subunit in place. The axle completes between 100 and 600 rotations per second. There are on the order of 10^20 (One Hundred Billion Billion) ATP synthase molecules in your body.
Illustration from The Machinery of Life by David S. Goodsell.
(submitted by infinity-imagined)