Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 29, 2026

Confocal Imaging of Confined Quiescent and Flowing Colloid-polymer Mixtures
Published on: May 20, 2014
Single-file diffusion of particles with long-range interactions: damping and finite-size effects
Jean-Baptiste Delfau1, Christophe Coste, Michel Saint Jean
1Laboratoire Matiere et Systemes Complexes, UMR CNRS 7057 et Université Paris Diderot-Paris 7, Bâtiment Condorcet, 10 rue Alice Domon et Léonie Duquet, 75205 Paris Cedex 13, France.
Abstract:
We study the single file diffusion of a cyclic chain of particles that cannot cross each other, in a thermal bath, with long-ranged interactions and arbitrary damping. We present simulations that exhibit new behaviors specifically associated with systems of small numbers of particles and with small damping. In order to understand those results, we present an original analysis based on the decomposition of the particles' motion in the normal modes of the chain. Our model explains all dynamic regimes observed in our simulations and provides convincing estimates of the crossover times between those regimes.
Related Concept Videos
Van der Waals Interactions
Theories of Dissolution: The Danckwerts' Model and Interfacial Barrier Model
Behavior of Gas Molecules: Molecular Diffusion, Mean Free Path, and Effusion
Theories of Dissolution: Diffusion Layer Model
This process starts with a thin layer, saturated with the drug, forming at the interface between the solid and liquid. The solute then diffuses from this layer into the main solution. The Noyes-Whitney equation suggests that the rate of dissolution relies on the diffusion...
Diffusion
Diffusion

