Anja
Bioengineer
- Apr 4, 2001
- 7
I am biologist and know NOTHING about mechanical engineering or finite element analysis - so please forgive my amateur approach.
I would like to model the stiffness of a single plant cell, a pollen tube. It could be described as a fire hose kind of pipe (length up to several hundred micrometers), diameter ca. 6 micrometers, with an apical, half-sphere shaped dome. The pipe is filled with cytoplasm (for simplicity: homogeneous liquid). The resistance to lateral deformation consists of 1. the turgor pressure (internal pressure of a living cell), 2. the cell wall (thickness ca. 100-200 nm).
Hypothetical case: The plasticity and thickness of the cell wall is identical at the apex and the remaining part of the cell. How can I calculate the force I would need to compress the apical part of the cell (i.e. cylindrical part directly adjacent to the half-sphere), compared to the more distal part (i.e. the purely cylindrical part further down the pipe).
Any kind of input, also reference to basic engineering literature would be VERY welcome!!
I would like to model the stiffness of a single plant cell, a pollen tube. It could be described as a fire hose kind of pipe (length up to several hundred micrometers), diameter ca. 6 micrometers, with an apical, half-sphere shaped dome. The pipe is filled with cytoplasm (for simplicity: homogeneous liquid). The resistance to lateral deformation consists of 1. the turgor pressure (internal pressure of a living cell), 2. the cell wall (thickness ca. 100-200 nm).
Hypothetical case: The plasticity and thickness of the cell wall is identical at the apex and the remaining part of the cell. How can I calculate the force I would need to compress the apical part of the cell (i.e. cylindrical part directly adjacent to the half-sphere), compared to the more distal part (i.e. the purely cylindrical part further down the pipe).
Any kind of input, also reference to basic engineering literature would be VERY welcome!!
