Physics 177, Spring 2011 Homework #4 Solutions

Badr F. Albanna February 18th, 2011 Problem 4.1 Bad Luck

Part (a) Using the multiplication rule for probability we know that the chance of N k getting a particular series of k heads from N tosses is equal to pk heads ptails . In order to get the total probability of nding k heads regardless of which ips are heads we much multiply by the total number of ways to pick k from N which is N = N !/k!(N k)!. In this case, we want to know the chance of getting equal k numbers of heads and tails using a biased coin for 1000 ips. equal numbers of heads and tails using a biased coin for 1000 ips. P (k = 500|N = 1000) = 1000! 1000 (.51)500 (.49)500 (.51)500 (.49)500 = 2 500! 500

Plugging this into a calculator is out of the question, so we must simplify it a bit in order to make a numerical computation tractable. Taking the log of this expression and using Sterlings approximation on the factorials in the binomial

Physics 177, Spring 2011

Homework #4 Solutions

coefcient, we have log(P (500)) = log(1000!) 2 log(500!) + 500 log(.51) + 500 log(.49) (1000 log(1000) 1000 + 1/2 log(2 1000)) 2(500 log(500) 500 + 1/2 log(2 500)) +500 log(.51) + 500 log(.49) 1000 1000 ) = 1000 log( ) + log( .51) + log( .49) + log( 500 500 2 1000 = log (2 .51 .49)1000 500 2 = log(0.819 0.025) P (500) 0.819 0.025 = 2.1% Its important to note that if I had neglected the last term in the Stirlings approximation I would have gotten a completely different answer since that term (represented by the 0.025 in the nal answer) made the difference here. The reason for this is that even though this term is small in the expansion, what we care about here is the difference between two expansions (the one for the factorial in the numerator and the denominator). In this case the difference of the third term turns out to be more signicant than the difference of the leading terms. Part (b) If we were to put ourselves in the frame of reference that drifted with the particles, we would see a Gaussian distribution with a variance that increases linearly with time as predicted by the theory in chapter 4. Specically the variance will equal 2 = 2Dt. Going back to the original frame of reference this Gaussian will appear to drift to the right with a drift velocity of v. This means the center of the widening Gaussian is at the location vt. The equation for the concentration as a function of position (x) and time (t) is c(x, t) =
(xvd t)2 N e 4Dt 4Dt

where N is the total number of particles. So what does this mean? Lets plot the density at two time steps (t = 1, and t = 5) for two different conditions: drift dominated (v = 10, D = 1) and diffusion dominated (v = 1, D = 10). In both cases we will set N equal to one for convenience. Badr F. Albanna page 2 of 10

Physics 177, Spring 2011

Homework #4 Solutions

0.30 0.25 0.20

P(x)

v =10, D =1 t =1 t =5

0.15 0.10 0.05 0.00100 50

x

50

100

Figure 1: Drift-dominated case

We can see that in the drift-dominated case (gure 1), almost no particles pass into negative x territory because the drift overwhelms diffusion. In the diffusion dominated case (gure 2) the opposite happens, the motion due to diffusion is able to overcome the overall motion due to drift and we see many particles with negative x. For the problem at hand, D = 10 106 cm2 s1 , v = 1 m s1 , N = 1 109 , and t = 80 s. Using the above formula, we have c(x = 0, t = 80 s) = 25.8 109 cm1 . Part (c) The rst case is in some sense a discrete version of the second case because it describes a distribution that creeps in the direction of more heads while also getting widening which is exactly the same situation described in part b. Moreover, x = 0 is the equivalent to the condition that we have even heads and tails in the earlier example.

Problem 4.2 Binomial distribution

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Physics 177, Spring 2011

Homework #4 Solutions

0.09 0.08 0.07 0.06 0.05 0.04 0.03 0.02 0.01 0.00100

v =1, D =10 t =1 t =5

P(x)

50

50

100

Figure 2: Diffusion-dominated case

Part (a) There are 10,000 distinct pairs of bases. Each of them can change to 2 one of three other bases so we have a total of 32 10,000 4.50 108 possible 2 two-base mutations. Part (b) This problem is identical to problem 4.1 part (a). The probability P2 is equal to 10, 000 P2 = P 2 (1 P )9998 = 4.0% 2 Part (c) Using the numbers given we have 1010 new virus particles and a 1% infection rate. Multiplying by our mutation rate to get the total number of cells infected with two-pair mutations 1010 0.01 4.0% = 4.0 106 This means that only one in every hundred possible two-base mutations infects a white blood cell per day. Badr F. Albanna page 4 of 10

Physics 177, Spring 2011

Homework #4 Solutions

Part (d) For three-base mutations, we have 33 10, 000 3 = 4.50 1012

The probability of a three-base mutation is P3 = 10, 000 P 3 (1 P )9997 = 0.44% 3

Therefore the number of three-base mutations that infect white blood cells is 1010 0.01 0.44% = 4.4 105 Now there only one out of every 107 possible three-base infects a white blood cell per day. Part (e) Assuming that the use of three drugs implies that there must be a particular three-base pair mutation in order to evade these drugs, it will take an average of 107 days = 27 103 years for the virus to nd the right combination to evade the drug. This is as compared to under a day for a single drug or four months for a pair of drugs.

Problem 4.3 Limitations of passive transport

Part (a) I will use the Stokes formula to calculate the viscous friction coefcient, = 6R, and then use that value to solve for D using the Einstein relation. According to the book (p. 119), the viscosity of water at room temperature, = 103 kg m1 s1 and a vesicle has a radius on the order of 50 nm so = 6(103 kg m1 s1 )(50 109 m) = 9.4 1010 kg . s 2 Using the Einstein relation D = kB T / = 4.3 1012 m . s Part (b) Here we use the relation jdif f us = Dc0 /L (ignoring the sign). If an axon is one meter long and the starting and nal concentrations of vesicles are c0 and 0 respectively we have simply that jdif f us = c0 (4.3 1012 m ) s Part (c) Here the observed number ux is simply the observed speed times the initial concentration jobs = c0 400 mm = c0 (5 106 m ). day s Badr F. Albanna page 5 of 10

Physics 177, Spring 2011

Homework #4 Solutions

Part (d) The ratio is jdif f us /jobs = 8.6 107 ! This means diffusion is far, far to small to explain the ux of vesicles down an axon.

Problem 4.5 Perrins Experiment

Part (a) Stokes formula tells us = 6R = 6(103 kg m1 s1 )(0.37 m) = 6.97 109 kg . Plugging this in to the Einstein relation we get D = kB T / = s 2 5.80 1013 m . Given that the wait time is 30 s we know that the root mean s squared displacement should be (for a two dimensional problem) x2 = 4Dt = 4(5.80 1013 m2 )(30 s) = 8.0 m s

This is not to far off the actual value of 7.34 m. Part (b) For a two dimensional problem like this one we would expect the displacements to follow a Gaussian distribution with variance 4Dt. In this case we have 1 r2 1 x2 +y2 e 4Dt dx dy P (r) = e 4Dt 2r dr P (x, y) = 4Dt 4Dt To nd the percentage in a certain ring, I will integrate this probability distribution from ri = i(d/4) to ri+1 = (i + 1)(d/4) where i is an integer greater than or equal to 0 and d = x2 = 4Dt. Using the substitution a = r2 /d2 , da = (2r/d2 ) dr:
ri+1

P (r) = =
i2 /16

ri (i+1)2 /16

1 r2 e d2 2r dr d2 ea da

= ea

(i+1)2 /16 i2 /16

= ei

2 /16

e(i+1)

2 /16

Multiplying by the total number of displacements observed (508) we get the following table of predictions compared to the actual values (table 1).

Problem 4.7 Vascular design

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Physics 177, Spring 2011

Homework #4 Solutions

i 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Predicted number 31 82 106 103 80 53 30 14

Observed number 31

Table 1: Comparison of predicted to observed counts in Perrins data (Problem 4.5)

Part (a) The ow of oxygen out of the capillary wall will obey the equation d(c) = dt PA V c

In this case we can take the outside concentration to be a constant cout = C and set the internal concentration equal to cin = cin (t) so we nd dcin = dt PA V (C cin )

The solution to this equation takes the form cin (t) = (cin (0) C)e
PAt V

+C

The time course of this process is set by the exponential, and the characteristic time is set by 1 over the prefactor multiplying t. Therefore we have = V /PA. The volume is V = r2 L and the surface area is A = 2rL. Inserting these geometric factors into our expression for we nd = r r2 L = 2rLP 2P

Part (b) If the blood is travelling through we want the speed to be to faster than v = L/ = 2PL/r. This speed ensures that after travelling the length of the Badr F. Albanna page 7 of 10

Physics 177, Spring 2011

Homework #4 Solutions

capillary each moving volume of blood has has at least time to exchange oxygen with the tissue. Using the numbers given v= 2(3.0 106 m )(1 103 m) 2PL mm s = = 1.5 6 m r 4 10 s

The actual value is 0.4 mm meaning (if our earlier calculations are accurate) that s blood travels slow enough for just under 4 time to pass.

Problem 4.10 Spontaneous versus driven permeation

Part (a) If this is the total ux of particles though a membrane patch of area A at the beginning of the process then we know this quantity is simply jN (t = 0) A dt jN (0) = 2.9 smol . Using the Fick relation and the fact that the m2 initially HTO makes up all of the water on one side of the membrane and none on the other we have jN (0) = Pw c(0) = Pw co (0) Pw = jN (0) c0 (0)

The concentration of HTO initially is simply equal to the concentration of water under standard conditions c0 (0) = 55 mol = 55 103 mol . Putting this all together L m3 we nd 2.9 smol m m2 Pw = = 5.3 105 3 mol s 55 10 m3 Part (b) First, we want to convert this equation for volume ux to an equation for number ux by multiplying by the number density N = 55 mol . L jN = N jV = N Lp p If we think of this equation as another way of describing the same process (thinking in terms of the pressure gradient of a species rather than the concentration gradient of a species) then we need a way to relate the two quantities. All other things being equal it seems that the pressure should scale with the concentration implying that their differences should as well, p c. But what is a Badr F. Albanna page 8 of 10

Physics 177, Spring 2011

Homework #4 Solutions

good guess for the proportionality factor? The pressure is telling us something about the local energy density of the liquid (check the units if you dont believe me) so perhaps we should multiply the number density by the translational energy contained per molecule 1/2kb T . This implies we should have p = 1/2kB T c Equating the two expressions for the number ux we can then solve for Lp as a function of Pw jN = N jV Pw c = N Lp p = N Lp (1/2kB T )c 2Pw Lp = N kb T Lets check the units to make sure this isnt completely bogus. Lp has units [Lp ] = and Pw has units [Pw ] = N has units [N ] = and nally kb T is an energy so it has units [kB T ] = ML T2 L T 1 L3 L T2 L2 T L3 = L2 T M M

Putting it all together we have that the R.H.S. of the equation has units of 2Pw N kb T = L L3 T2 L2 T = = [Lp ] T 1 ML M

So what value does this equation predict for Lp ? Plugging all of our values in we nd m2 s cm Lp = 7.91 1013 = 8.0 106 kg s atm Badr F. Albanna page 9 of 10

Physics 177, Spring 2011

Homework #4 Solutions

For a pressure difference of 1 atm this implies a volume ux of jV = Lp p = 8.0 106 cm s

Part (c) Not bad! Our guesstimate is only off by 12%.

Badr F. Albanna

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