A simple model for the mechanical stretching of (bio)polymers

P. Etchegoin and R.C. Maher

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2003, vol. 323, issue C, 551-560

Abstract: It is proposed that the mechanical stretching of (bio)polymers with volume interactions can be modelled by the Gross–Pitaiievski equation when the density can be treated in the continuum approximation. The model is used in conjunction with a Monte-Carlo simulation to demonstrate one of the simplest examples of temperature-induced coil-globule phase transitions in a polymer chain. In addition, it is shown that the model can be easily implemented in a lattice and contains the essential aspects of the mechanical response of folded polypeptides when the enthalpic contributions to the elasticity dominate over the entropy. The model can provide an alternative simplified description for the mechanical properties of single (bio)polymers, with the possibility of including dynamical effects and/or external potentials, without resorting to more sophisticated but time-consuming molecular dynamics simulations.

Keywords: Polymer elasticity; Monte-Carlo; Coil-globule transition; Proteins; DNA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378437103000153
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only. Journal offers the option of making the article available online on Science direct for a fee of $3,000

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:323:y:2003:i:c:p:551-560

DOI: 10.1016/S0378-4371(03)00015-3

Access Statistics for this article

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications is currently edited by K. A. Dawson, J. O. Indekeu, H.E. Stanley and C. Tsallis

More articles in Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().