Unbelievably Tiny Motors are Complex

Make a first, then extend your little (pinky) finger. Place it up to the corner of your mouth and say, "400 trillion" like Dr. Evil. That is about how many viruses live within you. No need to get flustered because only a few are owlhoots. They are a part of our microbiome.

Strange thing is, viruses are not considered living things! They can mimic life by bushwhacking living cells, infecting them, and reproducing. There are many types of viruses and they do not all work in the same way. Our sub-life friends are viruses called bacteriophages.

Working on a motor, Unsplash / Han Dora

Viruses are much smaller than bacteria and are selective in their targets. Bacteriophages (phages for short) hunt the bad bacteria and leave the good ones alone. To do their work, they have to work on the DNA molecules in the bacteria. Not only did the Master Engineer give living things built-in viruses to ambush bad bacteria, he also gave viruses a special molecular machine to conduct such detailed work!

Viruses are particles so tiny that they can’t be seen by an ordinary light microscope, but only under an electron microscope. They are not living organisms because they cannot carry out the necessary internal metabolism to sustain life, nor can they reproduce themselves. They are infectious particles, made up of DNA (or RNA) and protein, and can reproduce themselves only by hijacking the machinery of an infected living cell. The infected cell produces multiple copies of the virus, then bursts to release the new viruses so the cycle can repeat.

To finish reading, visit "Even a tiny virus has a powerful mini-motor." Come back afterward because there is another little thing to examine.

What do you use when need to stop the movement of a machine but don't want to shut it off? That's where a clutch is mighty handy. Many motorcars have manual clutches, so those drivers are quite aware of the concept.

Quite a few bacteria move around on their own power. It is almost like a motorboat except that is uses whip-like things called flagella. They move, turn, pause — because they have clutches. Remember, this is all tiny molecular machinery. Scientists learned about the clutches while they were working on a different subject...interesting how many discoveries are made in this manner. Although this clutch and the motor discussed above are clearly the work of the Creator, credit is given to evolution. Hail Darwin! Blessed be! Oh, please.

Many bacteria are powered by real electrical outboard motors, only 45 nm in diameter. These motors connect to long, thin, whip-like helical filaments several times as long as the germ, via a universal joint. This converts the rotary motion of the motor into wavelike motions in the filament. The motor comprises a stator, rotor, drive shaft and bushing that guides the driveshaft out through the cell wall. ‘The assemblage of motor and filament is called a flagellum.’ Bacteria often have several flagella, and their concerted motion enables the cell to swim at 35 cell lengths per second.

The rest of the article is located at "Germ’s miniature motor has a clutch."