# Mechanics, Energetics, Entropy and Kinetics of a Binary Mechanical Model System Source: [Mechanics, Energetics, Entropy and Kinetics of a Binary Mechanical Model System]() Collection index: [llms.txt]() Data updated: 2025-10-25T07:10:35.490Z Authors: Josh E. Baker Published: 2022-03-14T06:00:37.000Z ## Abstract With the formal construction of a thermodynamic spring, I describe the mechanics, energetics, entropy, and kinetics of a binary mechanical model system. A protein that transitions between two metastable structural states behaves as a molecular switch, and an ensemble of molecular switches that displace compliant elements equilibrated with a system force constitutes a binary mechanical model system. In biological systems, many protein switches equilibrate with cellular forces, yet the statistical mechanical problem relevant to this system has remained unsolved. A binary mechanical model system establishes a limited number of macroscopic parameters into which structural and mechanistic details must be fit. Novel advances include a non-equilibrium kinetic and energetic equivalence; scalable limits on kinetics and energetics; and entropic effects on kinetics and mechanics. The model unifies disparate models of molecular motor mechanochemistry, accounts for the mechanical performance of muscle in both transient and steady states, and provides a new perspective on biomechanics with a focus here on how muscle and molecular motor ensembles work. ## Recorded benchmark results A research result applies to its stated dataset, split, metric and evaluation configuration. Compare like-for-like settings, preserve the metric's unit and direction, and distinguish paper-reported results from independent reproduction. The best result recorded here is not a claim of exhaustive, current global coverage. ## Original sources and implementation [Original paper]() [PDF]()