VIRUS GENETICS, MULTIPLICATION, AND PHYSICS 



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to hold because of the finite velocity of travel of the electric 

 field. Thus if the effective frequency of an electronic fluctuation 

 is 10^^ per sec, the time for the field to be established at a distance 

 of 100 A is the distance divided by the velocity of light, or 

 10-73 X 10^0, or 3.3 X IQ-^^ sec. This means that the induced 

 dipole will not be in phase with the original fluctuation dipole 

 and no attraction will occur. So this may well mean that the 



i 



- 



P 



-i- 



H. 



T-l 



M 



- 



- 



1 



1 



- 



(d) 



apart to form two chains. Part of one chain can go with the other at this stage, 

 and the second chain can be completed from a unit near by. 



attraction to the original nucleoprotein chain is too little to hold 

 within the 6-A critical distance. As soon as this is exceeded, the 

 strong repulsive forces of the ionic atmosphere take over, and the 

 two units are forced apart, ready to start a second pair of chains, 

 and so on. 



It is interesting, though speculative, that the size of a genetic 

 unit is thus restricted by the finite velocity of light, so that ulti- 

 mate cosmological laws can be seen influencing the intimate 

 details of a living system. 



