Related papers: Molecular rolling friction: the cogwheel model
Mixing two chemical elements at the surface of a substrate is known to produce rich phase diagrams of surface alloys. Here, we extend the concept of surface alloying to the case where the two constituent elements are not both atoms, but…
The increase of sliding friction upon increasing load is a classic in the macroscopic world. Here we discuss the possibility that friction rise might sometimes turn into a drop when, at the mesoscale and nanoscale, a confined lubricant film…
The suppression of friction between sliding objects, modulated or enhanced by mechanical vibrations, is well established. However, the precise conditions of occurrence of these phenomena is not well understood. Here we address these…
We examine the budding of a nanoscale particle through a lipid bilayer using molecular dynamics simulations, free energy calculations, and an elastic theory, with the aim of determining the extent to which equilibrium elasticity theory can…
Several laser techniques have been suggested and demonstrated recently for preparing polarizable molecules in rapidly spinning states with a disc-like angular distribution. We consider motion of these spinning discs in inhomogeneous fields,…
A simple model of a polymer with long rigid segments which interact via excluded volume repulsions and short ranged attractions is proposed. The coil-globule transition of this model polymer is strongly first order, the globule is…
Rubber friction is of major practical importance in applications such as tires, rubber seals, and footwear. This review article focuses on the theory and experimental studies of rubber friction on substrates with random roughness. We…
The dynamics of a rotating elastic filament is investigated using Stokesian simulations. The filament, straight and tilted with respect to its rotation axis for small driving torques, undergoes at a critical torque a strongly discontinuous…
The dynamic behavior of a partially wetting polymer droplet driven over a nanostructured interface is studied using molecular dynamics simulations. We consider the bead-spring model to represent a polymeric liquid that partially wets a…
The dragging velocity of a model solid lubricant confined between sliding periodic substrates exhibits a phase transition between two regimes, respectively with quantized and with continuous lubricant center-of-mass velocity. The…
We perform molecular dynamic simulations of liquid nanoparticles deposited on a disordered substrate. The motion of the nanoparticle is characterised by a 'stick and roll' diffusive process. Long simulation times ($\simeq \mu s$), analysis…
We argue that for some species of magnetic nanoparticles the macrospin can have a nonvanishing moment of inertia and then an orbital angular momentum. We represent such nanoparticles by two interacting rigid rotors one of which has a large…
The modes of attachments, detachments and relaxations of molecules of rubbers and gels on solid surfaces are keys to understanding their frictional properties. An early stochastic model of polymer relaxations on surfaces was given by…
The contribution of sliding-induced, atomic-scale instabilities to the kinetic friction force is investigated by molecular dynamics. For this purpose, we derive a relationship between the kinetic friction force $F_{\rm k}$ and the…
We present a theoretical study of the impact of an electric field combined with a magnetic field on the rotational dynamics of open shell diatomic molecules. Within the rigid rotor approximation, we solve the time-independent Schr\"odinger…
The sliding motion of objects is typically governed by their friction with the underlying surface. Compared to translational friction, however, rotational friction has received much less attention. Here, we experimentally and theoretically…
A first-principle continuum-mechanics expression for the rolling friction coefficient is obtained for the rolling motion of a viscoelastic sphere on a hard plane. It relates the friction coefficient to the viscous and elastic constants of…
Molecular rotors form twisted conformations upon photoexcitation, with their fluorescent relaxation time serving as a measure of viscosity. They have been used to assess membrane viscosities but yield higher values compared to other…
We investigate autogenous fragmentation of dry granular material in rotating cylinders using two-dimensional molecular dynamics. By evaluation of spatial force distributions achieved numerically for various rotation velocities we argue that…
The stochastic driving force exerted by a single molecular motor (e.g., a kinesin, or myosin) moving on a periodic molecular track (microtubule, actin filament, etc.) is discussed from a general viewpoint open to experimental test. An…