Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 23, 2026

Optimization of An Air-Based Heat Management System for Dusty Particulate Matter-Covered Lithium-Ion Battery Packs
Published on: November 3, 2023
Additivity of the excess energy dissipation rate in a dynamically self-assembled system
Konstantin V Tretiakov1, Kyle J M Bishop, Bartosz A Grzybowski
1Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.
Abstract:
Despite its prevalence in biological systems and its promise as a route to adaptive and/or self-healing materials, dynamic self-assembly (DySA) far from thermodynamic equilibrium remains poorly understood. In this context, it is desirable to develop general thermodynamic relations describing the steady-state configurations of such dissipative assemblies. Here, numerical simulations and analytical methods are used to calculate the viscous energy dissipation rates in a prototypical, magnetohydrodynamic DySA system. In addition to the well-established criteria of mechanical equilibrium, it is shown that the naturally forming steady-state configurations/flows are characterized by a fundamentally different relation based on the viscous energy dissipation. Specifically, the total dissipation of the n-particle system may be expressed as a sum of pairwise "interactions" derived from the analogous two-particle system. This dissipation additivity holds despite the presence of many-body forces/torques between the particles and may prove useful in estimating the viscosities of colloidal suspensions.
Related Concept Videos
Second Law of Thermodynamics
Second Law of Thermodynamics
Mechanical Systems
Types of Damping
The Second Law of Thermodynamics
Energy Diagrams - I
Take the example of a skater on a parabolic ramp. The potential energy at different points along the ramp will be proportional to the height of the ramp, which varies quadratically with the horizontal position on the ramp. As the skater moves down the ramp from the highest position,...