Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-biological-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2019/5/e/solution

At fixed and , the entropic spring constant is proportional to absolute temperature, because the free-energy penalty for a given loss of conformational entropy is . Therefore
For the literal printed chain this is . The same factor multiplies either alternative contour-consistent spring constant from part (d), provided its Kuhn length is held fixed. Real DNA's persistence length, base pairing and solvent interactions can themselves vary with temperature and salt; then contributes through at fixed segment count, or if the physical contour is instead held fixed. The simple linear temperature result belongs to the specified ideal-chain model.

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