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Science 7 June 2002:
Vol. 296. no. 5574, pp. 1813 - 1815
DOI: 10.1126/science.1073595
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Perspectives

STATISTICAL MECHANICS:
Far from Equilibrium

David A. Egolf

Knowledge of the statistical properties of chemical systems at equilibrium can be very helpful for understanding their behavior. However, much of the world surrounding us is not in equilibrium. In his Perspective, Egolf explains how equilibrium properties, such as free energies, can nevertheless be determined based on nonequilibrium data. He highlights the report by Liphardt et al., who show experimentally that by measuring the work required to unfold an RNA molecule repeatedly as a function of its extension, the free energy of unfolding can be determined.

The author is in the Department of Physics, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057, USA, and the Department of Physics, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06459, USA. E-mail: egolf{at}physics.georgetown.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Atomic-level observation of macromolecular crowding effects: Escape of a protein from the GroEL cage.
A. H. Elcock (2003)
PNAS 100, 2340-2344
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