2004/06/30 by Yutaka Sumino, Nobuyuki Magome, Tsutomu Hamada +1 · 6 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Fluid Dynamics and Heat Transfer #Micro and Nano Robotics #nlin.AO
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.94.068301
published as Phys. Rev. Lett., 94, 068301 (2005) · 4 pages, 4 figures
openalex publication_date 2005/02/14 · arxiv created 2005/05/06 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Spontaneous motion of an oil droplet driven by nonequilibrium chemical conditions is reported. It is shown that the droplet undergoes regular rhythmic motion under appropriately designed boundary conditions, whereas it exhibits random motion in an isotropic environment. This study is a novel manifestation on the direct energy transformation of chemical energy into regular spatial motion under isothermal conditions. A simple mathematical equation including noise reproduces the essential feature of the transition from irregularity into periodic regular motion. Our results will inspire the theoretical study on the mechanism of molecular motors in living matter, working under significant influence of thermal fluctuation.