Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 27, 2026

Modeling the Functional Network for Spatial Navigation in the Human Brain
Published on: October 13, 2023
The influence of overconstraint on the spatial distribution of mobility in an amorphous network
Vanessa K de Souza1, Peter Harrowell
1University Chemical Laboratories, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge, CB2 1EW, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
It is proposed that the dynamic heterogeneities of an amorphous material are strongly correlated with the spatial distribution of unconstrained degrees of freedom in the associated network of mechanical constraints. This latter distribution is shown to depend sensitively on whether or not overconstraints are permitted in the constraint network. When overconstraints are avoided, relaxation is achieved with few bond rearrangements and the susceptibility χ(4) increases monotonically with increasing constraint density, in contrast to the case of a random network. This behaviour is associated with the marginal stability of the isostatic rigid cluster as opposed to the more robust structures generated when redundant bonds are permitted.
Related Concept Videos
Constraints and Statical Determinacy
Polymer Classification: Crystallinity
Crystalline domains are the regions where polymer chains are aligned in an orderly manner and held together in proximity by intermolecular forces. For example, chains in the crystalline domains of polyethylene and nylon are bound together by van der Waals...
First Law: Particles in Two-dimensional Equilibrium
Newton's first law tells us about the...
First Law: Particles in One-dimensional Equilibrium
Short-distance Transport of Resources
Conservation of Mass in Moving, Nondeforming Control Volume
In the context of a detention basin, the conservation of mass states that the total mass of water entering the basin must equal the mass leaving the basin plus any accumulation of...