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Direct Measurement of the Flow Field around Swimming Microorganisms

Knut Drescher, Raymond E. Goldstein, Nicolas Michel, Marco Polin, and Idan Tuval
Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 168101 – Published 11 October 2010
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Abstract

Swimming microorganisms create flows that influence their mutual interactions and modify the rheology of their suspensions. While extensively studied theoretically, these flows have not been measured in detail around any freely-swimming microorganism. We report such measurements for the microphytes Volvox carteri and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The minute (0.3%) density excess of V. carteri over water leads to a strongly dominant Stokeslet contribution, with the widely-assumed stresslet flow only a correction to the subleading source dipole term. This implies that suspensions of V. carteri have features similar to suspensions of sedimenting particles. The flow in the region around C. reinhardtii where significant hydrodynamic interaction is likely to occur differs qualitatively from a puller stresslet, and can be described by a simple three-Stokeslet model.

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  • Received 3 May 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.168101

© 2010 The American Physical Society

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A quantitative look into microorganism hydrodynamics

Published 11 October 2010

Direct measurements show that the fluid flow around swimming microorganisms is more complex than previously thought, with important implications for how they interact and behave.

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Authors & Affiliations

Knut Drescher, Raymond E. Goldstein, Nicolas Michel, Marco Polin, and Idan Tuval

  • Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0WA, United Kingdom

See Also

Oscillatory Flows Induced by Microorganisms Swimming in Two Dimensions

Jeffrey S. Guasto, Karl A. Johnson, and J. P. Gollub
Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 168102 (2010)

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Vol. 105, Iss. 16 — 15 October 2010

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