Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Propulsion with a rotating elastic nanorod.

Manoel Manghi1, Xaver Schlagberger, Roland R Netz

  • 1Laboratoire de Physique Théorique, IRSAMC, Université Paul Sabatier, 31062 Toulouse, France.

Physical Review Letters
|April 12, 2006
PubMed
Summary

A rotating elastic filament transitions to a helical shape at a critical torque, creating a nanomechanical device that generates forward propulsion regardless of rotation direction.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Microscopic structure and dynamics of interfacial water at fluorinated vs nonfluorinated surfaces-Insights from ab-initio simulations and IR spectroscopy.

The Journal of chemical physics·2026
Same author

Cation-Induced Interphasial Viscosity Variations on Gold Electrocatalysts in Nanoconfined Aqueous Electrolytes.

Journal of the American Chemical Society·2026
Same author

Sub-diffractional infrared absorption of two-dimensional water.

Nature communications·2026
Same author

Multipolar electric and magnetic contributions to sum-frequency generation spectra reveal biaxial interfacial water structure.

Nature communications·2026
Same author

The importance of layer-dependent molecular twisting for the structural anisotropy of interfacial water.

Science advances·2026
Same author

Hierarchical friction memory leads to subdiffusive configurational dynamics of fast-folding proteins.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026

Area of Science:

  • Fluid dynamics
  • Soft matter physics
  • Nanotechnology

Background:

  • Investigating the behavior of elastic filaments under rotational forces is crucial for understanding micro- and nanomechanical systems.
  • The transition from straight to helical configurations in rotating objects can lead to complex propulsive behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the dynamics of a rotating elastic filament.
  • To characterize the shape bifurcation and resulting propulsion.
  • To establish the potential of this system as a nanomechanical force-rectification device.

Main Methods:

  • Utilizing Stokesian dynamics simulations to model the filament's behavior.
  • Analyzing the effects of varying driving torques on filament shape.
  • Quantifying the propulsion generated by the helical state.

Main Results:

  • For small torques, the filament remains straight and tilted.
  • At a critical torque, a discontinuous transition to a helical state occurs.
  • The helical filament generates significant forward propulsion irrespective of the rotation's direction.

Conclusions:

  • A rotating elastic filament exhibits a critical torque-induced shape bifurcation to a propulsive helical state.
  • This phenomenon enables the creation of a nanomechanical device capable of force rectification and propulsion.
  • The findings have implications for designing micro- and nanoscale actuators and propulsion systems.

Related Experiment Videos