2013/07/19 by Zhisong Wang, Ruizheng Hou, Artem Efremov
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Physics and Astronomy · #ATP Synthase and ATPases Research #Efficient energy use #Energy (signal processing) #Fidelity #Limit (mathematics) #Mechanical energy #Micro and Nano Robotics #Molecular motor #Motion (physics) #Nanoscopic scale #Work (physics) #cond-mat.stat-mech #physics.bio-ph #stochastic dynamics and bifurcation
paper · pdf · doi:10.1063/1.4813626
published as Journal of Chemical Physics 139, 035105 (2013) · 20 pages, 3 figures
openalex publication_date 2013/07/19 · arxiv created 2013/08/21 · arxiv updated 2015/06/16 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Directional motion of nanoscale motors and driven particles in an isothermal environment costs a finite amount of energy despite zero work as decreed by the 2nd law, but quantifying this general limit remains difficult. Here we derive a universal equality linking directional fidelity of an arbitrary nanoscale object to the least possible energy driving it. The fidelity-energy equality depends on the environmental temperature alone; any lower energy would violate the 2nd law in a thought experiment. Real experimental proof for the equality comes from force-induced motion of biological nanomotors by three independent groups - for translational as well as rotational motion. Interestingly, the natural self-propelled motion of a biological nanomotor (F1-ATPase) known to have nearly 100% energy efficiency evidently pays the 2nd law decreed least energy cost for direction production.