The translational and rotational motion of a sphere in a bulk viscous Lennard-Jones fluid and in the vicinity of a wall is studied using molecular-dynamics simulations. The results of continuum hydrodynamics are reproduced for the motion in an unbounded fluid even for spheres comparable in size to that of the fluid molecules. Our work addresses the issue of the divergences arising from the continuum analysis when the sphere moves in a fluid in the vicinity of a solid wall.

• Received 6 February 1995

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.75.232