中国物理B ›› 2017, Vol. 26 ›› Issue (3): 30506-030506.doi: 10.1088/1674-1056/26/3/030506
Baoji He(贺宝记), Yanting Wang(王延颋)
Baoji He(贺宝记)1,2, Yanting Wang(王延颋)1,2
摘要:
Various soft materials share some common features, such as significant entropic effect, large fluctuations, sensitivity to thermodynamic conditions, and mesoscopic characteristic spatial and temporal scales. However, no quantitative definitions have yet been provided for soft matter, and the intrinsic mechanisms leading to their common features are unclear. In this work, from the viewpoint of statistical mechanics, we show that soft matter works in the vicinity of a specific thermodynamic state named moderate point, at which entropy and enthalpy contributions among substates along a certain order parameter are well balanced or have a minimal difference. Around the moderate point, the order parameter fluctuation, the associated response function, and the spatial correlation length maximize, which explains the large fluctuation, the sensitivity to thermodynamic conditions, and mesoscopic spatial and temporal scales of soft matter, respectively. Possible applications to switching chemical bonds or allosteric biomachines determining their best working temperatures are also briefly discussed.
中图分类号: (Classical statistical mechanics)