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Which of the following has the most entropy, individual nucleotides or a nucleic acid?

User Allan Ho
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Answer:

Individual nucleotides. When they are isolated nothing is shared or combined and has more kinetic energy.

User Alex Pereira
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A nucleic acid has more entropy than individual nucleotides.

Entropy is a measure of the number of possible ways that the components of a system can be arranged or distributed while maintaining the same overall energy. In the case of nucleic acids, the components are the individual nucleotides that make up the polymer.

When nucleotides are linked together to form a nucleic acid, the number of possible ways that the nucleotides can be arranged increases significantly, compared to the number of possible arrangements of individual nucleotides. This is because the nucleotides in a nucleic acid are linked by covalent bonds that allow for some flexibility in the orientation of the nucleotides relative to each other. Additionally, the longer the nucleic acid chain, the more possible arrangements of the nucleotides are available.

Therefore, a nucleic acid with many linked nucleotides has a higher entropy than individual nucleotides, because it has more possible arrangements of its components while maintaining the same overall energy.

User Rahul Shyokand
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