Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 71 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let be the contact radius of the adhering neutrophil. Indentation is of order , so the elastic strain is of order within a region of volume . The elastic energy is consequently , while adhesion lowers the energy by order . Balancing these terms givesThis estimate requires weak adhesion, .
For an adhesive-cell rolling threshold, assume peeling the rear bonds dissipates work of order per unit contact area. Rolling through angle sweeps contact area of order , giving resisting moment . A surrounding fluid of dynamic viscosity supplies a moment of order . Equating moments yieldsA dimensionless numerical coefficient depends on the contact and near-wall Stokes flow. Fluid viscosity is indispensable to a rate estimate, even though the contact model alone specifies only .
A perfectly reversible elastic adhesive contact does not lose net energy when an unchanged contact footprint translates. It therefore does not, by itself, justify a finite rolling threshold. The above estimate assumes adhesive hysteresis or irreversible bond peeling. If equilibrium adhesion is but the work lost during peeling and rebinding is , retain and replace by only in the resisting moment: .