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Energy ratchets involve a repetitive (either stochastic or periodic) change in a potential energy surface, irrespective of the position of a particle on that surface. Switching of the potential energy surface is termed balance breaking (as the change momentarily means the particle is no longer in the lowest accessible minima), while the subsequent statistically driven directional relaxation of the Brownian particle constitutes a power stroke (for definitions of key terms used in this Review, see Table1).

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