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arXiv · 1802.02472

Forceless Sadowsky strips are spherical

E. L. Starostin·G. H. M. van der Heijden
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Abstract

We show that thin rectangular ribbons, defined as energy-minimising configurations of the Sadowsky functional for narrow developable elastic strips, have a propensity to form spherical shapes in the sense that forceless solutions lie on a sphere. This has implications for ribbonlike objects in (bio)polymer physics and nanoscience that cannot be described by the classical wormlike chain model. A wider class of functionals with this property is identified.

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E. L. Starostin, G. H. M. van der Heijden. 2018-02-07. Forceless Sadowsky strips are spherical. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.97.023001

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