Brownian motor Brownian motor Brownian motors are nano-scale or molecular devices by which thermally activated processes (chemical reactions) are controlled and used to generate directed motion in space and to do mechanical or electrical work. These tiny engines operate in an environment where viscosity dominates inertia, and where thermal noise makes moving in a specific direction as difficult as walking in a hurricane: the forces impelling these motors in the desired direction are minuscule in comparison with the random forces exerted by the environment. Because this type of motor is so strongly dependent on random thermal noise, Brownian motors are feasible only
Brownian motion left then after "N" collisions the particle's velocity will have changed by Δ"V"(2"N" − "N"). The multiplicity is then simply given by: and the total number of possible states is given by 2. Therefore, the probability of the particle being hit from the right "N" times is: As a result of its simplicity, Smoluchowski's 1D model can only qualitatively describe Brownian motion. For a realistic particle undergoing Brownian motion in a fluid many of the assumptions cannot be made. For example, the assumption that on average occurs an equal number of collisions from the right as from the left falls