Table 1.
Specific power output (erg s−1/cm3)
| Source | Power output |
|---|---|
| Gas turbine enginea | 8×107 |
| Race car enginea | 2×107 |
| Passenger car enginea | 3×106 |
| Flagelluma | 3×105 |
| Striated musclea | 2×106 |
| Cytokinetic furrowa | 3×102 |
| Spindle motor (grasshopper)/chromosomea | 6 |
| Spindle motor (yeast)/16 chromosomesb | 7 |
b
Calculation for power output for yeast spindle: force×velocity/volume, F (force=ma=g cm/s−2 )×velocity=g cm2/s−3. This converts to dyne cm/s= erg/s. Force in spindle = 10 pN (Fisher and Bloom, unpublished). Velocity of chromosome to pole movement 0.3 μm/min = 0.0053 μm/s = 5.3 × 10−7 cm/s (Pearson et al. 2001); 10 pN= 10−6 dyne. Thus, 10−6 dyne × 5.3 × 10−7 cm/s = 5.3 × 10−13 dyne cm/s = erg/s. Volume of spindle 250 nm in diameter×1,500 nm in height (O’Toole et al. 1999); (125 nm2 × 3.14 × 1, 500 nm) = 7.4 × 10−14 cm3. Dyne cms−1/cm3 = 5.3 × 10−13 dyne cm/s/7.4 × 10−14 cm3 = 7 erg s/cm3