How do atoms and its components become the tangible things we feel at the human scale if they’re not tangible at the atomic level (and have weird properties like the particle wave duality)?

Question

Is there any explanation as to how the interaction between atom components then atoms then molecules and then macrostructures like a tree are so different from one another even though they have the same components?

In: Physics

Answer 1

Atoms mostly bond to each other by their electron clouds and charges to form molecules. Molecules bond together or interact with each other mostly in the same way, except since the molecule is bulkier, its size has a larger influence (steric hindrance).

Larger molecules, like polysaccharides and lipids, are larger chains of small molecules, bonded end-on-end to make a single, very large molecule. These are affected more by steric hindrance, since they are much larger than their component molecules.

Macromolecules like proteins are made up of tons of atoms/molecules all bonded together. Macromolecular interaction is mainly governed by their shape; since they are so massive, their bulk plays a huge (heh) part in how they can move and interact. There are substructures within proteins, such as alpha helices and beta-sheets that define some of the protein’s shape. Many proteins are only “reactive” in certain locations and with certain other shapes. This is where you get the most differentiation between atomic/molecular interaction, since protein shape is complex enough that they can almost “choose” what to react with.

Past proteins, you get to cells, which are huge bundles of tons of associated proteins, lipids, polysaccharides, etc. Cells are where you get the basics of “purpose” in terms of atomic structure/interactions. Cells, having DNA, can “code” to produce specific proteins that are beneficial to the cell or to the cell’s function. They can self-regulate their internal space to keep themselves protected from the exterior environment. They can actively make and expend chemical energy to do work. They can self-regulate their own functions to prolong their own existence. And they can almost all reproduce, consuming external material to create new cells, making order out of chaos.

Once you have cells that are capable of having a purpose, the rest is just expanding that. If you can program a cell to do one specific task, along with a bunch of other cells that do their own task, with each cell being supported by the other cells, then you can have a multicellular organism. Repeat this process over and over again, adding additional layers of organization/control, and you get to complex organisms like people and plants.