Molecular Motors

Molecular Motors is a physics simulation model dealing with molecular motors. Graphically, this simulation looks a lot like "Stretching DNA", which, in turn, deals with the forces required for a single DNA strand to be contained.

In this case, the concept that one has to understand is how molecular motors are able to pull a DNA strand from a containment vessel. The vessel here is a laser filed, which power you can increase or decrease . To do so, you simply move a sliding bar at the bottom.

When the simulation starts, you see a DNA strand in the form of a yellow sphere. A molecular motor is located to the left of a stand, and they are connected via "optical tweezers", which is shown as a moving black line. The molecular motor will attract the DNA strand and the latter will move out of the containment field, unless you increase power.

You can change the molecular motor (enzyme) to illustrate how all molecular motors are different both in appearance and acting.

To the right of the screen, there are various measuring elements that can be activated to see some of the energies and forces at play during the simulation. The simulation speed can be manually adjusted by typing the speed desired or by simply moving a sliding bar.