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Reptation Theory
A peculiarity of thermal motion of very long linear macromolecules in ''entangled'' polymer melts or concentrated polymer solutions is reptation. Derived from the word reptile, reptation suggests the movement of entangled polymer chains as being analogous to snakes slithering through one another. Pierre-Gilles de Gennes introduced (and named) the concept of reptation into polymer physics in 1971 to explain the dependence of the mobility of a macromolecule on its length. Reptation is used as a mechanism to explain viscous flow in an amorphous polymer. Sam Edwards (physicist), Sir Sam Edwards and Masao Doi later refined reptation theory. Similar phenomena also occur in proteins. Two closely related concepts are reptons and entanglement. A repton is a mobile point residing in the cells of a lattice, connected by bonds. Entanglement means the topological restriction of molecular motion by other chains. Theory and mechanism Reptation theory describes the effect of polymer chain ent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thermal Motion
A thermal column (or thermal) is a rising mass of buoyant air, a convective current in the atmosphere, that transfers heat energy vertically. Thermals are created by the uneven heating of Earth's surface from solar radiation, and are an example of convection, specifically atmospheric convection. Thermals on Earth The Sun warms the ground, which in turn warms the air directly above. The warm air near the surface expands, becoming less dense than the surrounding air. The lighter air rises and cools due to its expansion in the lower pressure at higher altitudes. It stops rising when it has cooled to the same temperature, thus density, as the surrounding air. Associated with a thermal is a downward flow surrounding the thermal column. The downward-moving exterior is caused by colder air being displaced at the top of the thermal. The size and strength of thermals are influenced by the properties of the lower atmosphere (the ''troposphere''). When the air is cold, bubbles of warm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brownian Motion
Brownian motion, or pedesis (from grc, πήδησις "leaping"), is the random motion of particles suspended in a medium (a liquid or a gas). This pattern of motion typically consists of random fluctuations in a particle's position inside a fluid sub-domain, followed by a relocation to another sub-domain. Each relocation is followed by more fluctuations within the new closed volume. This pattern describes a fluid at thermal equilibrium, defined by a given temperature. Within such a fluid, there exists no preferential direction of flow (as in transport phenomena). More specifically, the fluid's overall linear and angular momenta remain null over time. The kinetic energies of the molecular Brownian motions, together with those of molecular rotations and vibrations, sum up to the caloric component of a fluid's internal energy (the equipartition theorem). This motion is named after the botanist Robert Brown, who first described the phenomenon in 1827, while looking throu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protein Dynamics
Proteins are generally thought to adopt unique structures determined by their amino acid sequences. However, proteins are not strictly static objects, but rather populate ensembles of (sometimes similar) conformations. Transitions between these states occur on a variety of length scales (tenths of Å to nm) and time scales (ns to s), and have been linked to functionally relevant phenomena such as allosteric signaling and enzyme catalysis. The study of protein dynamics is most directly concerned with the transitions between these states, but can also involve the nature and equilibrium populations of the states themselves. These two perspectives—kinetics and thermodynamics, respectively—can be conceptually synthesized in an "energy landscape" paradigm: highly populated states and the kinetics of transitions between them can be described by the depths of energy wells and the heights of energy barriers, respectively. Local flexibility: atoms and residues Portions of protein s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polymer Physics
Polymer physics is the field of physics that studies polymers, their fluctuations, mechanical properties, as well as the kinetics of reactions involving degradation and polymerisation of polymers and monomers respectively.P. Flory, ''Principles of Polymer Chemistry'', Cornell University Press, 1953. .Pierre Gilles De Gennes, ''Scaling Concepts in Polymer Physics'' CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS Ithaca and London, 1979M. Doi and S. F. Edwards, ''The Theory of Polymer Dynamics'' Oxford University Inc NY, 1986 While it focuses on the perspective of condensed matter physics, polymer physics is originally a branch of statistical physics. Polymer physics and polymer chemistry are also related with the field of polymer science, where this is considered the applicative part of polymers. Polymers are large molecules and thus are very complicated for solving using a deterministic method. Yet, statistical approaches can yield results and are often pertinent, since large polymers (i.e., polymers wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polymer Characterization
Polymer characterization is the analytical branch of polymer science. The discipline is concerned with the characterization of polymeric materials on a variety of levels. The characterization typically has as a goal to improve the performance of the material. As such, many characterization techniques should ideally be linked to the desirable properties of the material such as strength, impermeability, thermal stability, and optical properties. Characterization techniques are typically used to determine molecular mass, molecular structure, morphology, thermal properties, and mechanical properties. Molecular mass The molecular mass of a polymer differs from typical molecules, in that polymerization reactions produce a distribution of molecular weights and shapes. The distribution of molecular masses can be summarized by the number average molecular weight, weight average molecular weight, and polydispersity. Some of the most common methods for determining these parameters are collig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Publications In Physics
This is a list of important publications in physics, organized by field. Some reasons why a particular publication might be regarded as important: *Topic creator – A publication that created a new topic *Breakthrough – A publication that changed scientific knowledge significantly *Influence – A publication which has significantly influenced the world or has had a massive impact on the teaching of physics. Applied physics Accelerator physics * :The Swedish physicist Gustav Ising was the first one to publish the basic concept of a linear accelerator (in this case, as part of a cathode ray tube). * :The Norwegian physicist Rolf Widerøe took Ising's idea and expanded it. Later, he built the first operational linear accelerator. * * :These two articles describe the betatron concept and the first experimental data of a working betatron, built by Donald William Kerst. * * :These publications were the first to introduce the idea of strong focusing to particle beams ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rouse Model
The Rouse model is frequently used in polymer physics. The Rouse model describes the conformational dynamics of an ideal chain. In this model, the single chain diffusion is represented by Brownian motion of beads connected by harmonic springs. There are no excluded volume interactions between the beads and each bead is subjected to a random thermal force and a drag force as in Langevin dynamics. This model was proposed by Prince E. Rouse in 1953. The mathematical formalism of the dynamics of Rouse model is described here. An important extension to include hydrodynamic interactions mediated by the solvent between different parts of the chain was worked out by Bruno Zimm in 1956. Bruno H. Zimm, ''Dynamics of Polymer Molecules in Dilute Solution: Viscoelasticity, Flow Birefringence and Dielectric Loss'', J. Chem. Phys. 24, 269 (1956). Whilst the Rouse model applies to polymer melts, the Zimm model applies to polymer in solution where the hydrodynamic interaction is not screened. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kuhn Length
The Kuhn length is a theoretical treatment, developed by Hans Kuhn, in which a real polymer chain is considered as a collection of N Kuhn segments each with a Kuhn length b. Each Kuhn segment can be thought of as if they are freely jointed with each other. Each segment in a freely jointed chain can randomly orient in any direction without the influence of any forces, independent of the directions taken by other segments. Instead of considering a real chain consisting of n bonds and with fixed bond angles, torsion angles, and bond lengths, Kuhn considered an equivalent ideal chain with N connected segments, now called Kuhn segments, that can orient in any random direction. The length of a fully stretched chain is L=Nb for the Kuhn segment chain. In the simplest treatment, such a chain follows the random walk model, where each step taken in a random direction is independent of the directions taken in the previous steps, forming a random coil. The average end-to-end distance fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reptation Theory
A peculiarity of thermal motion of very long linear macromolecules in ''entangled'' polymer melts or concentrated polymer solutions is reptation. Derived from the word reptile, reptation suggests the movement of entangled polymer chains as being analogous to snakes slithering through one another. Pierre-Gilles de Gennes introduced (and named) the concept of reptation into polymer physics in 1971 to explain the dependence of the mobility of a macromolecule on its length. Reptation is used as a mechanism to explain viscous flow in an amorphous polymer. Sam Edwards (physicist), Sir Sam Edwards and Masao Doi later refined reptation theory. Similar phenomena also occur in proteins. Two closely related concepts are reptons and entanglement. A repton is a mobile point residing in the cells of a lattice, connected by bonds. Entanglement means the topological restriction of molecular motion by other chains. Theory and mechanism Reptation theory describes the effect of polymer chain ent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
