0 Klug, William S. Bruinsma, Robijn F. Michel, Jean-Philippe Knobler, Charles M. Ivanovska, Irena L. Schmidt, Christoph F. Wuite, Gijs J. L. 2006 PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS ONE PHYSICS ELLIPSE, COLLEGE PK, MD 20740-3844 USA AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOC 97 DEC 1 CHLOROTIC MOTTLE VIRUS,MICROSCOPY,CAPSIDS <p>We report a combined theoretical and experimental study of the structural failure of viral shells under mechanical stress. We find that discontinuities in the force-indentation curve associated with failure should appear when the so-called Foppl-von Karman (FvK) number exceeds a critical value. A nanoindentation study of a viral shell subject to a soft-mode instability, where the stiffness of the shell decreases with increasing pH, confirms the predicted onset of failure as a function of the FvK number.</p> http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.228101