Three regimes dominate physics at the nanoscale, all visible in the same particle chamber.
Brownian: ⟨x²⟩ = 2·D·t, D ∝ k_B·T / (6πηr)
Surface tension: droplet forms when cohesion energy > k_B·T (spontaneous clumping)
Tunneling: T ≈ exp(−2κL), κ = √(2m(V₀−E))/ħ
- Mode buttons — switch which nanoscale phenomenon is simulated: random thermal jitter, cohesive droplet formation, or a particle attempting to cross a potential barrier.
- Temperature — sets thermal energy; raises jitter speed in Brownian mode and competes against cohesion in surface-tension mode.
- Particle count — number of simulated nanoparticles in the chamber.
- Barrier width (tunneling mode) — thicker barriers exponentially suppress the tunneling probability.
- Cohesion strength (surface-tension mode) — how strongly particles attract each other to minimise surface area.
These effects underpin real nanotechnology: Brownian motion limits precision in nanoscale drug-delivery particles, surface tension drives self-assembly of nanostructures, and quantum tunneling is exploited directly in scanning-tunneling microscopes and tunnel-junction transistors.