  Knots are commonly found in molecular chains such as DNA and proteins, and
they have been considered to be useful models for structural analysis of these
molecules. One interested quantity is the minimum number of monomers necessary
to realize a molecular knot. The minimum lattice length $\mbox{Len}(K)$ of a
knot $K$ indicates the minimum length necessary to construct $K$ in the cubic
lattice. Another important quantity in physical knot theory is the ropelength
which is one of knot energies measuring the complexity of knot conformation.
The minimum ropelength $\mbox{Rop}(K)$ is the minimum length of an ideally
flexible rope necessary to tie a given knot $K$.
  Much effort has been invested in the research project for finding upper
bounds on both quantities in terms of the minimum crossing number $c(K)$ of the
knot. It is known that $\mbox{Len}(K)$ and $\mbox{Rop}(K)$ lie between
$\mbox{O}(c(K)^{\frac{3}{4}})$ and $\mbox{O}(c(K) [\ln (c(K))]^5)$, but unknown
yet whether any family of knots has superlinear growth. In this paper, we focus
on 2-bridge knots and links. Linear growth upper bounds on the minimum lattice
length and minimum ropelength for nontrivial 2-bridge knots or links are
presented:
  $\mbox{Len}(K) \leq 8 c(K) + 2$.
  $\mbox{Rop}(K) \leq 11.39 c(K) + 12.37$.
