Physics 347 Problem Set 6 due: Dec.

6 page 1
26. Red-cell lysis pressure.
At issue in this problem is the degree of osmotic imbalance allowed by the red-cell membrane.
If the red cell is exposed to a hypotonic environment (one with a lower concentration of
osmolites than occurs inside the cell), water will flow into the cell until it swells to spherical and,
if the osmotic imbalance is large enough, lyses (ruptures) and then reseals due to the line tension.
What is the largest osmotic imbalance in moles/litre which the red cell can withstand without
rupture?
Data:
Stretch modulus K s = 0.16 J /m 2 ; lysis occurs at 2% area expansion.
Red-cell membrane area=140 µm2
Hint: See Tutorial 8.1 and Lecture 20.1.
!
27. Membrane closure due to edge tension.
Consider a flat circular patch of membrane of radius R. Assume that the membrane material is
symmetrical, so the membrane is flat in its relaxed state and has a bending energy given by
2
"b #1 1&
Eb = ) dA% + ( . This patch is surrounded by an open edge which
2 S $ R1 R1 '

has an energy E edge = 2"R# , where λ is the edge energy/unit length. In r θ

this problem, you will explore the conditions under which the edge tension
!
is sufficient to force the patch to close up into a sphere.
To make the problem tractable, assume that the patch always has the shape
of a!spherical cap, as shown at the right, so that the open edge remains
circular with radius " = r sin # .
(a) Show that the area of the cap is related to r and θ by A = "R 2 = 2"r 2 (1# cos $ ) . Since A is
fixed, this is a relation between r and θ.
(b) Show ! that the energy of the patch (including both the edge energy and the bending energy)
$ $
can be written as E = 8"#b sin 2 + 2"R% cos !.
2 2
8"
(c) Show that there is a critical patch size Rc = b such that the patch will close to a sphere for
#
R>Rc. What happens for R<Rc? Estimate the value of Rc. ( " b ~ 25 kB T; # = 30 k B T /nm )
!
28. Principal radii of curvature in the Monge representation.
! that, when the height function z(x,y) has the form
(a) I told you in class (Lect. 32.2)
1 2 1 2 !
z= x + y , then Rx and Ry are the radii of curvature of the surface in the xz and yz
2R x 2R y
planes. Prove that this is true. These are by definition the principle radii of curvature R1,2 at the
point x=y=0.
a c
! (b) Consider a surface described in the Monge representation by z( x, y ) = x 2 + bxy + y 2 .
2 2
What are the principal radii of curvature of this surface at the point x=y=0.

29. Long charged cylinder with counterions (Manning condensation)

In this problem, you will solve (exactly!) the problem of!a line charge (like DNA) in aqueous
solution.
Consider an infinitely long thin cylinder of radius a with a (negative) symmetrically
 distributed surface charge –λ per unit length immersed in water solution. A density page 2
n ( r) of corresponding positive neutralizing charges q has been released into solution. The a
problem is to use the Poisson-Boltzmann equation to calculate the equilibrium charge
distribution,
q$
#
! k BT
"( r) = qn ( r) = qn 0e . (see Lect. 29.1—29.3 for 1D analog).

(a) Use Gauss’s theorem to calculate the electric field E ( r) for r " a in terms of λ and ρ(r).
# 1
! (b) From (a), show that the electric field at r=a is E ( a) = " & .
2$% a
This will be come a boundary condition in what follows.) !
! d#
(c) Again, starting from (a) and using the fact that E ( r) = " , show that the electric potential
dr
1 d # d" & * ( r) !
satisfies %r (=) . This is just the Poisson equation with cylindrical symmetry.
r dr $ dr ' +
With the substitution of the expression for!ρ(r) given above, it becomes the Poisson-Boltzmann
equation.
r q$
!(d) Show that, by making the substitutions u " ln and " ( r) # % 2u , the Poisson-
a kBT
d 2"
n 0q 2 a 2 #"
Boltzmann equation can be written = # e . This equation now has the 1D form.
du 2 $k B T
! 29) to find
(e) Integrate this equation (as in Lect. ! the solution,
$ '
q" r n q2a2 r )
= 2ln + 2ln&1+ 0 ln , where I have used the boundary condition that "( a) = 0 .
kB T a & 2!
#k B T a )(
%
Be careful about signs.
(f) It remains to apply the boundary condition from (b) to determine the normalization constant
n0 for the density distribution. Do this—carefully! Show that there is a consistent! solution with
! 2
q
n 0 > 0 if and only if " > q /l B , where l B " is called the Bjerrum length (PKT p. 340).
4 #$kB T
Find this solution.
Comment: The only solution for " # q /l B is n0=0. The meaning of this is that, for charge
! densities λ !below this critical density, none of the counterions remain bound near the line charge.
Instead, they have all wandered ! off to infinite distances. This is an entropic effect due to the
infinite volume; it is analoguous to what happens to an atomic or molecular bound state in
infinite volume (it always! ionizes at any T>0).
(g) For the λ above the critical density calculate the overall density of bound screening charge,
"
Qscreening = # ( dr)$ ( r) .
a
q
Note: You will find that Qscreening = " # , which has the interpretation that, above the
lB
critical line density of charge, there is sufficient screening so that, looked at from a very long
!
distance, the line charge and its screening cloud always has an unscreened charge per unit length
of q /l B . This is sometimes referred to as “charge renormalisation.” You will recall that, in 1D,
! screened. In 3D, all the charge escapes to infinite. This peculiar behavior is
all the charge was
specific to 2D and is called Manning condensation.
!