Past exam of the mathematical mechanical biology course of the University of Oxford / 2023 / 1 / a / iii

The second moment of area about an axis weights each element of cross-sectional area by its squared perpendicular distance from that axis. The ellipse extends farther along ${\mathbf{d}}_2$ than along ${\mathbf{d}}_1$, so its material lies, on balance, farther from the ${\mathbf{d}}_1$ axis. ThereforeWith zero intrinsic curvature of an elastic filament, the respective bending moments required by the constitutive equation are $E{I}_1\kappa {\mathbf{d}}_1$ and $E{I}_2\kappa {\mathbf{d}}_2$. Thus their magnitudes satisfyfor $\kappa \ne 0$: bending about the minor axis is harder. Here $E$ is Young's modulus, and $E{I}_i$ is the corresponding bending stiffness.