[srihari]

Hi guys here's an interesting question . Try  this out .

Alice is transported to a world which is the exact opposite of our world.
The proteins and carbohydrates etc are of the opposite configuration as that
of the molecules seen in our world. As she is a six year old child she is not well versed with the processes of
kinetic resolution etc.

How long can she survive in the MIRRORLAND ??

[renge ishyo]

Assuming that Alice is made from the matter in our world she will only last a fraction of a second in the mirror world. If everything in the mirror world is the exact opposite of this world it would follow that the nucleus of mirror world atoms are not made up out of protons and electrons but rather of anti-protons and positrons. When positrons and electrons make contact they annihiliate each other as do protons and anti-protons to form light waves (actually they will most likely form gamma waves, but light waves is perhaps easier to visualize). So the instant Alice was teleported to the new world, the first molecules she made contact with would annihilate the atoms in her body, and she would explode into light.

[catalyst]

  I like that solution. Although it doesn't make me want to visit Mirrorland half as much as Wonderland.

Is there a real solution to this question or is it all for fun?

Assuming that we are in a world made up of protons and electrons rather than antiprotons and positrons, we could assume that the air is made up of exactly the opposite formula that it is in our world. Instead of a mostly nitrogen and to a lesser degree oxygen and argon makeup of air, we would have a mostly argon and a lesser degree of oxygen and nitrogen. Enough that she would suffocate or poison herself from argon in just a minute or so.

That's assuming there wasn't some aweful puddle of some extremely volotile substance that she landed in to begin with instead of the normal ground (instead of "There goes Bill"; "There goes Alice").


So any way you look at it...Alice is screwed.

[Borek]

Question is so vague that any answer will do.

[Borek]

As she is a six year old child she

Alice is screwed.

And now I should lock the thread.

[catalyst]

ROFL - I thought something like that might come of this thread.

Way to go borek! 

[Yggdrasil]

If the question is referring to everything being of opposite chirality as our world (as opposed to being composed of antimater), the answer is the same (Alice cannot survive), but the means to the answer is a lot less exciting (no big explosions).  The enzymes of our body would only be able to process the L-amino acids and D-sugars found in our world and would not be able to process the D-amino acids and L-sugars in the mirror world.  Thus, even if Alice ate as much as she could in the mirror would, she would starve to death as the mirrorland food would not provide her with nutrients that her body could use.

[srihari]

Sorry everybody for the trouble I should have worded it properly .
MIRRORLAND is mirror like only wrt the chirality part .

and wrt the post by yggdrasil .This is actually a question by my prof
I answered it as , first the carbohydrates stored in the body are utilised
and the fats and then proteins to get energy and so on . hopefully this is right .( I mean the order
cos I'm not bio student )
anyways my prof said that she was not resticted from eating anything here it means animals etc.
This made me think that there might be some achiral molecules which can provide energy .
My bio knowledge is zero pardon me if the post seems ridiculous.

[renge ishyo]

A mirrorland where only the chirality of organic molecules is opposite is not a true mirrorland at all (as if there is such a thing as a true mirrorland). If you want to consider only Biology, then I say Ygg's post is the answer to this. Even if Alice's body can tolerate a few molecules with the wrong chirality it certainly cannot tolerate the vast majority of the chiral molecules she would need to ingest to sustain her existence for very long. If your professor is really countering this explanation by suggesting that Alice no longer has to eat to sustain her existence in mirrorland then the question degrades into further ridiculousness (so if she doesn't have to eat anything resembling food in this world, what now DOES she eat to sustain her existence? "Magic" shrooms like she ate in Wonderland?).

[typhoon2028]

what about eating butter or ghee?

[Yggdrasil]

and wrt the post by yggdrasil .This is actually a question by my prof
I answered it as , first the carbohydrates stored in the body are utilised
and the fats and then proteins to get energy and so on . hopefully this is right .( I mean the order
cos I'm not bio student )

The order looks right to me.

anyways my prof said that she was not resticted from eating anything here it means animals etc.
This made me think that there might be some achiral molecules which can provide energy .
My bio knowledge is zero pardon me if the post seems ridiculous.

There are a few achiral intermediates in the central metabolic pathways.  Pyruvate (the end product of glycolysis) is one important example as are many important components of the citric acid cycle (e.g. citrate).  It's possible that Alice could derive the necessary energy from a diet of pyruvate.  Furthermore, pyruvate can be used as a precursor for glucose synthesis in gluconeogeneis and pyruvate is a precursor to acetyl-CoA, the building block for fats.  Pyruvate also feeds into the citric acid cycle which provides precursors for amino acid synthesis, it could also perhaps supply some amino acids.  (Fats, as typhoon2028 points out, can also play this role).

However, the essential amino acids are all chiral and cannot be synthesized by the body.  Obtaining these would likely be impossible in mirrorland.

[srihari]

thank you guys for your replies

regards
srihari

[catalyst]

That actually seemed more interesting after he explained the problem all the way.

Although, I admit I'm a little lost, it's at least making me think about it.