36 research outputs found
Using Nonlinear Response to Estimate the Strength of an Elastic Network
Disordered networks of fragile elastic elements have been proposed as a model
of inner porous regions of large bones [Gunaratne et.al., cond-mat/0009221,
http://xyz.lanl.gov]. It is shown that the ratio of responses of such
a network to static and periodic strain can be used to estimate its ultimate
(or breaking) stress. Since bone fracture in older adults results from the
weakening of porous bone, we discuss the possibility of using as a
non-invasive diagnostic of osteoporotic bone.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Sample-to-sample torque fluctuations in a system of coaxial randomly charged surfaces
Polarizable randomly charged dielectric objects have been recently shown to
exhibit long-range lateral and normal interaction forces even when they are
effectively net neutral. These forces stem from an interplay between the
quenched statistics of random charges and the induced dielectric image charges.
This type of interaction has recently been evoked to interpret measurements of
Casimir forces in vacuo, where a precise analysis of such disorder-induced
effects appears to be necessary. Here we consider the torque acting on a
randomly charged dielectric surface (or a sphere) mounted on a central axle
next to another randomly charged surface and show that although the resultant
mean torque is zero, its sample-to-sample fluctuation exhibits a long-range
behavior with the separation distance between the juxtaposed surfaces and that,
in particular, its root-mean-square value scales with the total area of the
surfaces. Therefore, the disorder-induced torque between two randomly charged
surfaces is expected to be much more pronounced than the disorder-induced
lateral force and may provide an effective way to determine possible disorder
effects in experiments, in a manner that is independent of the usual normal
force measurement.Comment: 7 pages, 3 fig