Propulsion of Microorganisms by Surface Distortions

Howard A. Stone and Aravinthan D. T. Samuel
Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 4102 – Published 4 November 1996
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Abstract

Swimming strategies of microorganisms must conform to the principles of self-propulsion at low Reynolds numbers. Here we relate the translational and rotational speeds to the surface motions of a swimmer and, for spheres, make evident novel constraints on mechanisms for propulsion. The results are applied to a cyanobacterium, an organism whose motile mechanism is unknown, by considering incompressible streaming of the cell surface and oscillatory, tangential surface deformations. Finally, swimming efficiency using tangential motions is related to the surface velocities and a bound on the efficiency is obtained.

  • Received 9 August 1996

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.77.4102

©1996 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Howard A. Stone

  • Division of Engineering & Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

Aravinthan D. T. Samuel

  • Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138 and Rowland Institute for Science, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142

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Vol. 77, Iss. 19 — 4 November 1996

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