2000/06/03 by Walter Kob, Leticia F. Cugliandolo, Kob, Walter +1
Chemistry · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Disordered Systems and Neural Networks (cond-mat.dis-nn) #Electrostatics and Colloid Interactions #FOS: Physical sciences #Microfluidic and Bio-sensing Technologies #Microfluidic and Capillary Electrophoresis Applications #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech) #cond-mat.dis-nn #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/0006049
7 pages of Latex, 4 figures
arxiv created 2000/06/03 · openalex publication_date 2000/06/03 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We use computer simulations to study the (driven) dynamics of a charged polymer in a disordered medium, thus mimicking the setting used in gel electrophoresis. In agreement with experiments, we find that inside the gel the mobility of the polymer is only a weak function of its length N. In contrast to this, the mean entrance time into the gel, is a very strong function of N, ∝ N1.3, and does not show any sign of saturation with increasing N. We rationalize this effect by means of a simple model and propose an experimental setup that should allow to increase the separation ability of gel electrophoresis significantly.