Force-Free Motion of a Mercury Drop Alternatively Submitted to Shifted Asymmetric Potentials
Résumé
We present a macroscopic experimental realization of force-free motion consisting in a mercury drop experiencing alternatively in time two locally asymmetric and periodic potentials which are spatially shifted. A system of electrodes creates the potentials and the force applied to the drop is of electrocapillary nature. We study the macroscopic velocity of the drop as a function of the times during which it experiences each potential and investigate different regimes of macroscopic velocity. Adjusting the different times allows some of the drops to move whereas others of different local velocities have a zero macroscopic velocity. This system thus acts as a filter. We also study the case of stochastic modulation of the potentials. These results compare well with theoretical predictions and experimentally validate a model which has been proposed for motor protein assemblies.
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