Researchers have built an electronic variant of a Brownian ratchet that allows microscopic particles to be separated by size. Dutch researcher Wijnand Germs built an electronic variant of a Brownian ...

Brownian motors and ratchet systems constitute a field of study that leverages stochastic fluctuations to generate directed motion in systems otherwise dominated by thermal noise. These devices ...

(Nanowerk News) The ratchet mechanism is a fascinating energy-conversion system that converts disorderly or random motion into orderly, directed movement through a process known as spontaneous ...

DNA-nanoparticle motors are exactly as they sound: tiny artificial motors that use the structures of DNA and RNA to propel motion by enzymatic RNA degradation. Essentially, chemical energy is ...

A little perpetual motion device called the Feynman-Smoluchowski Rachet, also known as the Brownian Ratchet, was an early attempt at defying the laws of thermodynamics. It failed, but it was an ...

Limitless: Paul Thibado holds prototype energy-harvesting chips. (Courtesy: Russell Cothren) The rippling thermal motion of a tiny piece of graphene has been harnessed by a special circuit that ...

The proposed ratchet mechanism utilizes the asymmetry in surface wettability between the smooth and rough faces of the teeth of a geometrically symmetric gear to achieve ratcheting motion. The ratchet ...