2.

STABILITY OF THIN LIQUID LAYERS AND THE ENERGY OF INTERACTION BETWEEN THE SURFACES OF TWO BODIES The forces of interaction between colloidal particles, exhibited when the liquid interlayers separating them grow thinner, can either accelerate coagulation of retard it. To understand the role of such interlayes and the mechanism of their stabilizing action, let us consider their behavior examplifield by a simple scheme when a liquid interlayer separates the parallel surfaces of two plates. In this case, the separating interlayer has the same thickness everywhere and its edges border on the dispersion medium inti which both plates are immersed. When the interlayer is sufficiently thin ( less than 1m ), the hydrostatic pressure in it differs from the pressure in the surrounding liquid by the value of disjoining pressure which is a function of the interlayer thickness. Therefore, in order maintain the equilibrium at which the interlayer thickness remains constant, a force that counterbalances the disjoining pressure of the interlayer must be applied to the plates. Disjoining pressure II can be found by determining the value counterbalancing pressure. Disjoining pressure is negative if hydrostatic pressure in the interlayer is lower than the bulk pressure or the plates are attracted to one another. Let us consider the nature of the force which determine disjoining pressure and its dependence on the thickness of the gap between the plates. Molecular forces of attraction. It is necessary above all to consider the forces of molecular attraction that act between the surfaces of any bodies of the same or different nature. The law of molecular attraction is exhibited most simply in the interaction of two molecules in the absence of other molecules which can be change the forces of molecular attraction. F. London was the first to show with the aid of quantum mechanics that the attractive forces Fm change in inverse proportion to the seventh power of the distance r between molecules whereas Um, the molecular energy of attraction, is inversely proportional to the sixth power of the distance: The negative sign in Eq. (9.21) indicates the loss in energy as molecules approach each other, and the negative sign Eq. (9.22) shows that the attractive forces increases as the distance r decreases. The constant changes within a rather wide range, depending on the nature of both molecules. To determine the effect of potential energy on particle motion, the quantity Um should be divided by kT, the energy of the thermal motion of molecules :

Where b is equal to /kT. The ratio Um /kT become very small at distances of several molecular radii. Eqs. (9.21) and (9.22) are applicable also when there are many molecules, but the mean distances between them are great in comparison with their radii, as is the case, for example, in gases. Then, the total energy of all the molecules can be found by summing up Eq. (9.21) for all the pairs of molecules.

The value of constant can be found when the correction in the van deer Waals equation, which take account of the mutual attractions of molecules, is known. Such a summation of molecular interactions can be used as a first approximation to calculate the resultant force with which two plates, separated by a flat gap having a width h, are attracted to one another. To this end, according Um of a molecule with all the molecules of plate located at a distance of r0 from it (fig. 9.4). The plates is assumed to be much thicker than h, and also than the radius of molecular action.