Entropic torque
Soft Condensed Matter
2009-11-07 v1
Abstract
Quantitative predictions are presented of a depletion-induced torque and force acting on a single colloidal hard rod immersed in a solvent of hard spheres close to a planar hard wall. This torque and force, which are entirely of entropic origin, may play an important role for the key-lock principle, where a biological macromolecule (the key) is only functional in a particular orientation with respect to a cavity (the lock).
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0202443,
title = {Entropic torque},
author = {R. Roth and R. van Roij and D. Andrienko and K. R. Mecke and S. Dietrich},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0202443},
year = {2009}
}