Entropic force on granular chains self-extracting from one-dimensional confinement.
The entropic forces on the self-retracting granular chains, which are confined in channels with different widths, are determined. The time dependence of the length of chain remaining in the channel Lin(t) is measured. The entropic force is treated as the only parameter in fitting the solution of the nonlinear equation of motion of Lin(t) to the experimental data. The dependence of the entropic force on the width of the confining channel can be expressed as a power-law with an exponent of 1.3, which is consistent with the previous theoretical predictions for the entropy loss due to confinement.
Institute of Electronics Engineering, National Tsing-Hua University, Hsin-chu 30042, Taiwan.
Pei-Ren
PR
Jeng
Department of Physics, National Tsing-Hua University, Hsinchu 30042, Taiwan.
KuanHua
K
Chen
Department of Electronic Engineering, St. John's University, Tamsui 25135, Taiwan.
Gwo-jen
GJ
Hwang
Department of Physics, National Tsing-Hua University, Hsinchu 30042, Taiwan.
Ethan Y
EY
Cho
Institute of Electronics Engineering, National Tsing-Hua University, Hsin-chu 30042, Taiwan.
Chenhsin
C
Lien
Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan.
Kiwing
K
To
Department of Physics, National Tsing-Hua University, Hsinchu 30042, Taiwan.
Y C
YC
Chou
D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D019277:Entropy; D009038:Motion; D012996:Solutions
D012996:Solutions; D004247:DNA