Atomistic study of macroscopic analogs to short-chain molecules.

We use a bath of chaotic surface waves in water to mechanically and macroscopically mimic the thermal behavior of a short articulated chain with only nearest-neighbor interactions. The chaotic waves provide isotropic and random agitation to which a temperature can be ascribed, allowing the chain to passively explore its degrees of freedom in analogy to thermal motion. We track the chain in real time and infer end-to-end potentials using Boltzmann statistics.