The elastic restoring force of tissues must be able to operate over the very wide range of loading rates experienced by living organisms. It is surprising that even the fastest events involving animal muscle tissues do not surpass a few hundred hertz. We propose that this limit is set in part by the elastic dynamics of tethered proteins extending and relaxing under a changing load. Here we stud...

A theory for the size effect in the strength of wires under torsion is reported and compared with data from thin copper wires. Critical thickness theory is solved rigorously and used to validate a useful approximation which is combined with slip-distance theory modified for a finite structure size. Experimental data with high accuracy around and above the elastic limit show excellent agreement ...

Achieving high elasticity for silicon (Si) nanowires, one of the most important and versatile building blocks in nanoelectronics, would enable their application in flexible electronics and bio-nano interfaces. We show that vapor-liquid-solid-grown single-crystalline Si nanowires with diameters of ~100 nm can be repeatedly stretched above 10% elastic strain at room temperature, approaching the t...

High precision measurements of helium photoelectron energy and angular distributions for a broad intensity range reflect the change in the continuum dynamics that occurs as the ionization process evolves into the pure tunneling regime. Elastic rescattering of the laser-driven free electron from its parent ion core leaves a distinct signature on the spectra, providing a direct quantitative test ...

The energies of plectonemic and toroidal supercoiled DNA are calculated by treating DNA as an elastic rod with a finite radius. End effects are ignored and all extensive quantities (e.g., writhe, bend energy) are treated as linear densities (writhe per unit length, bend energy per unit length). Minimum energy configurations are found. For plectonemic DNA, the superhelical pitch angle cz is in t...

We derive the equivalent energy of a square lattice that either deforms into the threedimensional Euclidean space or remains planar. Interactions are not restricted to pairs of points and take into account changes of angles. Under some relationships between the local energies associated with the four vertices of an elementary square, we show that the limit energy can be obtained by mere quasico...

This paper deals with the convergence of the déformations and stresses of slightly compressible elastic bodies to the incompressible ones as the compressibility goes to zero. The result concerning déformations is a very gênerai convergence result stated in the context of J. BaWs polyconvex stored energy functions. The convergence of the stresses in obtained fïrst formally through an assumption ...

We study the compression of viscous filaments at constant velocity. If slender enough, the filament bends, a viscous analogue of Euler elastic buckling. We measure the characteristic time of this viscous buckling and discuss the link with the elastic critical compression. We show that the analogy only holds in the limit of large capillary numbers. Otherwise capillarity has a stabilizing effect,...

We introduce a simplified model for a multi-material made up of two elastic bodies connected by a strong thin material layer whose stiffness grows as 1 . The model is obtained by identifying the Γ-limit of the stored strain energy functional of the physical problem when the thickness of the intermediate layer tends to zero. The intermediate layer behaves as a stiffening elastic membrane. Furthe...

The paper is concerned with the analysis of a new class of overlapping domain problems for elastic bodies having cracks. Inequality type boundary conditions are imposed on the crack faces. We prove an existence of invariant integrals and analyze the asymptotic behavior of the solution. It is shown that the limit problem describes an equilibrium state for the elastic body with a thin inclusion.