Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-thh2z Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-27T21:13:31.604Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

On the interaction of colloidal particles IV. general mathematical theory for two identical particles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

S. Levine
Affiliation:
Birkbech College Research Laboratory21 Torrington SquareLondonW.C.1

Abstract

A general theory of the interaction of two charged identical colloidal particles of arbitrary shape is developed. An expression for the Helmholtz free energy of the electric double layers is obtained by the methods of statistical mechanics. The condition that there is equilibrium between the ions adsorbed on the surfaces of the colloidal particles and those dissolved in the dispersion medium is accounted for by requiring that the free energy of the whole system be a minimum with respect to variation of the ionic density on the surfaces.

The theory presented here is a further development of the work of Verwey and Overbeek. The conclusions of this paper are that in dilute sols, to which the present investigations are restricted, the results of these authors require extension in two directions. First, there is a correction to the mutual energy of two particles, due to the Coulomb interaction of the ions in the bulk of the solution. Secondly, no special assumption concerning the relation between the surface potential (or charge) and interparticle separation need be introduced. The equations set up to determine the free energy of interaction at the same time yield the ‘adsorption isotherm’ for the ion type which is common to the solution and the surface of the particle.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge Philosophical Society 1951

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

(1)Levine, S. (Part I). Trans. Faraday Soc. 42 B (1946), 102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2)Levine, S. (Part II). Trans. Faraday Soc. 44 (1948), 833.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(3)Levine, S. (Part III). Phil. Mag. 41 (1950), 53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(4)Verwey, E. J. W. and Overbeek, J. Th. G.Theory of the stability of lyophobic colloids (Elsevier, 1948).Google Scholar
(5)Fowler, R. H.Statistical mechanics, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, 1936).Google Scholar
(6)Onsager, L.Chem. Rev. 13 (1933), 73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(7)Fuoss, R. M.J. Chem. Phys. 2 (1934), 818.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(8)Grimrley, T. B. and Mott, N. F.Disc. Faraday Soc. 1 (1947), 3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(9)Grimley, T. B.Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 201 (1950), 40.Google Scholar