Is Chemical Knowledge Truly Infinite?

[Kherubin]

If this is the wrong place for these sorts of musings, I greatly apologize and I would be profoundly obliged if someone could point me in the right direction.

Otherwise, on with the question.

I have repeatedly heard it said that the number of chemical species and, by extension, the entirety of chemical knowledge is infinite. I have been pondering this thought plenty in recent times and would welcome the opinions of others.

The way I see it, for the number of chemical species to be infinite, one or both of two criteria must be fulfilled, those being,

1) The Universe is infinite in extent.
2) An aspect of chemical manufacture is, in itself, infinite.

Leaving aside cosmological thinking for the moment, I am particularly interested in the second criterion.

For this to be true by my reckoning, a physical facet of chemical manufacture must vary continuously, as opposed to discretely.

In this regard, is anyone aware of a physical trait important to chemical manufacture (temperature, pressure, concentration etc.) that cannot ultimately be quantized.

With that said, any thoughts, opinions, aimless meanderings of the mind would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,
Kherubin

 

[Borek]

I am not sure what you mean by "chemical manufacture", I guess you mean synthesis. No, physical trait that can be not quantized is not necessary. Protein is just a chain of amino acids. There are 22 amino acids commonly used by the living organisms. Amino acids can be connected in any order, and there is no limit to the number of amino acids connected together - it is always possible to add any two amino acids to two ends of existing chain. That already means number of proteins is infinite, but there are many other substances that share similar properties that allow infinite variability.

 

[Kherubin]

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my query. (I did indeed mean chemical synthesis)

Your reply really speaks to my first criterion, that the universe is infinite. If the universe is infinite and contains an infinite amount of matter, it is then possible for conscious beings to add to molecules of any conceivable size without end.

However, if we assume that this is not the case (i.e. that we live in a universe of finite dimensions), my question then becomes, does any mechanism exist by which the structure or synthesis of a molecule can vary in a continuous way, thereby allowing chemical knowledge to again be infinite in extent.

By way of an example, I have read that the rotational bond angle around a molecule's chiral center can vary continuously, meaning that, in theory at least, the molecule can adopt an infinite variety of conformations and by extension, that the number of possible chemical structures is also infinite (although in a rather uninteresting way). However, I assume that this quantity (rotational bond angle) can ultimately too be quantized.

At a deeper level, I suppose by question can be phrased as, are there any physical variables that behave in a non-discrete fashion?

Thank you for your time,
Kherubin

 

[Borek]

At a deeper level, I suppose by question can be phrased as, are there any physical variables that behave in a non-discrete fashion?

Thats more like physics question. Feel free to ask it in general physics, and post link to the other thread here.