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Entropic torque

R. Roth, R. van Roij, D. Andrienko, K. R. Mecke, S. Dietrich

cond-mat.softarXiv:cond-mat/0202443

Abstract

Quantitative predictions are presented of a depletion-induced torque and force acting on a single colloidal hard rod immersed in a solvent of hard spheres close to a planar hard wall. This torque and force, which are entirely of entropic origin, may play an important role for the key-lock principle, where a biological macromolecule (the key) is only functional in a particular orientation with respect to a cavity (the lock).

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