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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons™
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Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Physical Principles Governing Colloidal Particle Deposition At Low Reynold’S Number: Applications To Microbial Biofilms, Sophia Wiedmann
Physical Principles Governing Colloidal Particle Deposition At Low Reynold’S Number: Applications To Microbial Biofilms, Sophia Wiedmann
Macalester Journal of Physics and Astronomy
Biofilms formed from the adhesion of microbes to a surface hold great relevance to public health and wastewater management. However, the physical principles underlying the attachment stage of biofilm formation, when individual microbes first come into contact with a substrate, are not well understood. Here I report on a model of colloidal particle attachment to a surface that incorporates the effects of diffusion, advection, gravity, and the hydrodynamic lift and drag forces experienced by polystyrene beads at low Reynold’s number. The simulation predicts attachment rates of 1.04x10^(-8)m/s, 0.73x10^(-8)m/s, and 1.29x10^(-8)m/s for beads of radius 0.25 µm, 0.55 µm, and 0.90 …
Protein Adsorption Using A Lattice Toy Model, Ari J. Weiland
Protein Adsorption Using A Lattice Toy Model, Ari J. Weiland
Macalester Journal of Physics and Astronomy
Protein adsorption is an important subfield of Biophysics particularly relevant in medical science. Using a computational simulation with a basic but configurable two-dimensional square lattice model of approximate amino acid interactions, I investigated the entropic effects of protein adsorption on a weakly attractive surface. These simulations allow for a precise calculation of the partition functions of these complex systems, from which I can then analyze other thermodynamic properties.