82 research outputs found
Dynamics of colloidal particles in ice
We use X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (XPCS) to probe the dynamics of colloidal particles in polycrystalline ice. During freezing, the dendritic ice morphology and rejection of particles from the ice created regions of high-particle-density, where some of the colloids were forced into contact and formed disordered aggregates. We find that the particles in these high density regions underwent ballistic motion coupled with both stretched and compressed exponential decays of the intensity autocorrelation function, and that the particles’ characteristic velocity increased with temperature. We explain this behavior in terms of ice grain boundary migration
Elasticity of spheres with buckled surfaces
The buckling instabilities of core-shell systems, comprising an interior
elastic sphere, attached to an exterior shell, have been proposed to underlie
myriad biological morphologies. To fully discuss such systems, however, it is
important to properly understand the elasticity of the spherical core. Here, by
exploiting well-known properties of the solid harmonics, we present a simple,
direct method for solving the linear elastic problem of spheres and spherical
voids with surface deformations, described by a real spherical harmonic. We
calculate the corresponding bulk elastic energies, providing closed-form
expressions for any values of the spherical harmonic degree (l), Poisson ratio,
and shear modulus. We find that the elastic energies are independent of the
spherical harmonic index (m). Using these results, we revisit the buckling
instability experienced by a core-shell system comprising an elastic sphere,
attached within a membrane of fixed area, that occurs when the area of the
membrane sufficiently exceeds the area of the unstrained sphere [C. Fogle, A.
C. Rowat, A. J. Levine and J. Rudnick, Phys. Rev. E 88, 052404 (2013)]. We
determine the phase diagram of the core-shell sphere's shape, specifying what
value of l is realized as a function of the area mismatch and the core-shell
elasticity. We also determine the shape phase diagram for a spherical void
bounded by a fixed-area membrane.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Physical Review
The Boltzmann factor, DNA melting, and Brownian ratchets: Topics in an introductory physics sequence for biology and premedical students
Three, interrelated biologically-relevant examples of biased random walks are
presented: (1) A model for DNA melting, modelled as DNA unzipping, which
provides a way to illustrate the role of the Boltzmann factor in a venue
well-known to biology and pre-medical students; (2) the activity of helicase
motor proteins in unzipping double-stranded DNA, for example, at the
replication fork, which is an example of a Brownian ratchet; (3) force
generation by actin polymerization, which is another Brownian ratchet, and for
which the force and actin-concentration dependence of the velocity of actin
polymerization is determined
Particle-scale structure in frozen colloidal suspensions from small angle X-ray scattering
During directional solidification of the solvent in a colloidal suspension, the colloidal particles segregate from the growing solid, forming high-particle-density regions with structure on a hierarchy of length scales ranging from that of the particle-scale packing to the large-scale spacing between these regions. Previous work has mostly concentrated on the medium- to large-length scale structure, as it is the most accessible and thought to be more technologically relevant. However, the packing of the colloids at the particle-scale is an important component not only in theoretical descriptions of the segregation process, but also to the utility of freeze-cast materials for new applications. Here we present the results of experiments in which we investigated this structure across a wide range of length scales using a combination of small angle X-ray scattering and direct optical imaging. As expected, during freezing the particles were concentrated into regions between ice dendrites forming a microscopic pattern of high- and low-particle-density regions. X-ray scattering indicates that the particles in the high density regions were so closely packed as to be touching. However, the arrangement of the particles does not conform to that predicted by any standard inter-particle pair potentials, suggesting that the particle packing induced by freezing differs from that formed during equilibrium or steady-state densification processes
X-ray Near Field Speckle: Implementation and Critical Analysis
We have implemented the newly-introduced, coherence-based technique of x-ray
near-field speckle (XNFS) at 8-ID-I at the Advanced Photon Source. In the near
field regime of high-brilliance synchrotron x-rays scattered from a sample of
interest, it turns out, that, when the scattered radiation and the main beam
both impinge upon an x-ray area detector, the measured intensity shows
low-contrast speckles, resulting from interference between the incident and
scattered beams. We built a micrometer-resolution XNFS detector with a high
numerical aperture microscope objective and demonstrate its capability for
studying static structures and dynamics at longer length scales than
traditional far field x-ray scattering techniques. Specifically, we
characterized the structure and dynamics of dilute silica and polystyrene
colloidal samples. Our study reveals certain limitations of the XNFS technique,
which we discuss.Comment: 53 pages, 16 figure
Evolution of particle-scale dynamics in an aging clay suspension
Multispeckle x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy was employed to
characterize the slow dynamics of a colloidal suspension formed by
highly-charged, nanometer-sized disks. At scattering wave vectors
corresponding to interparticle length scales, the dynamic structure factor
follows a form ], where
1.5. The characteristic relaxation time increases with the sample age
approximately as and decreases with
approximately as . Such a compressed exponential decay with
relaxation time that varies inversely with is consistent with recent models
that describe the dynamics in disordered elastic media in terms of strain from
random, local structural rearrangements. The amplitude of the measured decay in
varies with in a manner that implies caged particle motion at
short times. The decrease in the range of this motion and an increase in
suspension conductivity with increasing indicate a growth in the
interparticle repulsion as the mechanism for internal stress development
implied by the models.Comment: 4 pages, includes 4 postscript figures; accepted for publication in
Phys Rev Let
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