Diffusion of rods and flexible polymers in complex fluids
Dyfuzja sztywnych cząstek i elastycznych polimerów w płynach złożonych
- Principal Investigator
- dr Karol Makuch
- Project number
- 2021/42/E/ST3/00180
- Project duration
- 25 April 2022 – 24 December 2026
- Project value
- 1 465 952 PLN
About the project
Observation of motion provides information about both a moving body and its environment. Understanding the mechanisms of motion also makes it possible to predict how a body will behave in different situations and supports the design of new systems and technologies. This principle applies even to the motion of tiny particles in water, such as proteins, which constantly collide with surrounding water molecules. These countless collisions make the particle’s motion extremely complex and practically unpredictable at short timescales. After a sufficiently long time, however, a clear regularity emerges from this chaos: the particle undergoes diffusion. Albert Einstein and Marian Smoluchowski developed a theory describing this process, in which the key quantity is the diffusion coefficient. In simple fluids, this coefficient depends mainly on temperature and viscosity. In complex biological or industrial fluids, however, the classical Einstein formula can fail dramatically. The goal of this project is to develop a practical theoretical and experimental description of diffusion in complex liquids, focusing on DNA fragments and flexible polymers. Its results may help interpret experiments in polymer solutions and biological liquids such as cell cytoplasm, supporting the design of complex fluids and the identification of mechanisms important for life processes.
Publications
Publications resulting from this project will be listed here.