Molecular Applications of Google’s Page Rank Algorithm
Google’s page ranking algorithm can have applications beyond web searching. Chemist Aurora Clark at Washington State University has discovered a different application for this algorithm.
Water molecules are involved in almost every biological process. Therefore, understanding the details of how water molecules participate in chemical reactions can help to better model these systems. Just as a web page can have many links to other web pages, a water molecule can have many links to other molecules via Hydrogen Bonds. Hydrogen bonds are defined as:
“a weak bond between two molecules resulting from an electrostatic attraction between a proton in one molecule and an electronegative atom in the other”
-Oxford Dictionary
In other words, a water molecule has a side that is more positive and another side that is more negative. When two water molecules get close, the positive end of one will be attracted to the negative end of the other. This forms a weak bond known as a Hydrogen Bond. A water molecule can form several hydrogen bonds with its surroundings. This property of water is extremely important to chemical reactions within organisms.
There is estimated to be over 1.5 sextillion molecules in just a single drop of water. Therefore, there are many hydrogen bonds linking many water molecules. By letting Hydrogen Bonds act as the “webpage links” between molecules, a variation of Google’s page ranking system can help model how water molecules interact within chemical reactions. This can help to better understand and model biological processes that involve water molecules.
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