Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
5496490 | Physics Letters A | 2017 | 5 Pages |
Abstract
Single molecule experiments on bacteriophages show an exponential scaling for the dependence of mobility on the length of DNA within the capsid. It has been suggested that this could be due to the “capstan mechanism” - the exponential amplification of friction forces that result when a rope is wound around a cylinder as in a ship's capstan. Here we describe a desktop experiment that illustrates the effect. Though our model phage is a million times larger, it exhibits the same scaling observed in single molecule experiments.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Physics and Astronomy
Physics and Astronomy (General)
Authors
Rahul Arun, Sandip Ghosal,