Baljoh, A.R.C. and Robbins, M.O.: Energy dissipation during rupture of adhesive bonds, Science 271:482–484, 1996.

The report dealt with rupturing of adhesive bonds formed by short-chain molecules. A model was adopted that involved 2 walls containing 800 atoms each, coupled by stiff springs in a face-centered-cubic lattice; the space between the walls was occupied by 128 polymer chains that each contained 16 molecules of a given mass. Equations based on physical theory (electromagnetism and energy conservation), assumed forces (introduced in the guise of potentials), and numerical values of particular parameters in the equations were regarded as jointly controlling the process of rupturing of bonds between the polymers. In simulation, the walls were maintained at different temperatures and then separated from one another at different velocities, and it was shown that energy dissipation occurred by means of viscous forces at high temperature but by particular structural rearrangements of the polymer chains at lower temperatures. The authors argued that since the behavior of the model was similar to the behavior of some real systems, it was possible that the behavior of some real systems was actually caused by the forces postulated in the model, and that the molecular sequence of events in the real systems (which cannot be seen directly) was identical to that described in the model. If so, the authors reasoned, then the behavior of the real systems could be explained in the sense that it could be deduced from a governing law as a result of a particular cause (the force) via particular temperature-dependent mechanisms.