Introduction: Linear Atomic Chains

Abstract

This book is aimed at developing a coherent description of what we term “nanomechanics”, the mechanical behavior of nanometer-scale objects, that is, objects for which at least one dimension is significantly less than 1µm. We will not concern ourselves with rigid body dynamics, those related to the motion of an object’s center of mass, and the rotation of the object about its center of mass; these are quite well described in a large number of texts, for both the classical and quantum mechanical limits. Instead we will focus on the static and dynamic deformations of solid objects, both with and without external forces. The self-resonant vibrational modes determine some of the thermodynamic properties of solids, such as the heat capacity and thermal conductivity; we touch on this connection as well. In the smallest structures, quantum mechanics must be applied to the description of the motion.