Physicists track the random walks of ellipsoids, test 'lost' theory of Brownian motion

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Twenty seconds of a measured random walk trajectory for a micrometer-sized ellipsoid undergoing Brownian motion in water. The ellipsoid orientation labeled with rainbow colors illustrates the coupling of orientation and displacement and shows clearly ...
Twenty seconds of a measured random walk trajectory for a micrometer-sized ellipsoid undergoing Brownian motion in water. The ellipsoid orientation, labeled with rainbow colors, illustrates the coupling of orientation and displacement and shows clearly that the ellipsoid diffuses faster along its long axis compared to its short axis.

Research carried out at the University of Pennsylvania has definitively measured and described the Brownian motion of an isolated ellipsoidal particle, completing a path laid out by Einstein 100 years ago when he first described rotational Brownian motion for spheres in water.


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All News summaries for October 26, 2006