Social Distancing via Coulomb’s Law

• 作者: Patrick R. McMullen
• 来源期刊: 应用数学(英文)
• 学科: 物理学
• 关键词: OPTIMIZATION HEURISTIC Coulomb’s Law
• 年，卷（期）: 2020,（7）
• 页码范围: 532-545
• 页数: 14页
• 分类号: O57

摘要

This research effort addresses the social-distancing problem. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, we’ve learned the importance of keeping proper distance, so as to avoid (or minimize) the spread of infection. For this paper, individuals are represented as positively-charged particles, behaving in accordance with Coulomb’s Law. Additionally, negatively-charged stationary (non-moving) particles are positioned such that their attraction to the positively-charged particles guides the movement of the positively-charged particles in a desirable fashion. During a simulation process, Coulomb’s Law guides particle behavior such that the positively-charged particles arrange themselves in a way such that their spacing is essentially optimal. Of course, these positively charged particles can be thought of as a surrogate for individuals, resulting in the optimal spacing of individuals.