Biophysics

Elasticity at the nanoscale: graphene, viruses and plastic bottles

February 6, 2011.

Lecturer

Dr. ANTONIO ŠIBER
Institute of Physics, Zagreb

Date and time

Tuesday, February 15, 2011, at 3:00 PM

Location

Lecture hall in the Mladen Paić building, Institute of Physics, Bijenička cesta 46, Zagreb

Abstract

The most classical theory of elasticity was mainly developed with the intention of explaining small deformations of materials for construction purposes (“steel and concrete”). Large deformations of objects are common at the micro and nano scales, especially when it comes to “soft” structures such as liposomes, cells, erythrocytes, but also “harder” structures, e.g. bundles of carbon nanotubes under high pressure. I will show several selected applications of the theory of shell elasticity to graphene objects and viruses and emphasize the general properties that connect the deformations of such objects with those from the macroscopic world, such as plastic bottles and foils. I will also briefly look at the elastic elements of the “design” of biological systems.

*Joint seminar of the Croatian Biophysical Society and the Institute of Physics

previous article
Balls, bags and pouches

next-article
Aperture-free near-field microscopy (s-SNOM)