Creating a Three Dimensional Supercoiled DNA model with Two Dimensional Layers

by David Decker

Submitted : Spring 2015

3D printers can print an enormous variety of shapes and structures. The 3D printer is used in households, classrooms and industry throughout the world. Abstract ideas from integral calculus like: the shell method, the disk method, or three dimensional rotations of a solid, can be made tangible with the use of a 3D printer. The inherent difficulty in creating three dimensional objects in print lies in the method used to produce a printed image. In order to produce a print, the printer must stack many two dimensional layers on top of each other. How are complex objects, like strands of DNA, created by 3D printers, and specifically, how are the supercoils in DNA created? The focus of this project is to provide the solution to this problem, which involves the Gaussian formula for the linking number of terms in a double integral and the application of Fubini’s Theorem to create a printed solid by adding two dimensional layers on top of each other.

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