Eur. Phys. J. E 2, 137-143
Equilibrium sedimentation profiles of charged colloidal suspensions
Laboratoire de Physique (Unité Mixte de Recherche du
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UMR 5672), Ecole
Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 69364 Lyon cedex 07, France
gtellez@faoa.uniandes.edu.co
Received 5 May 1999 and Received in final form 25 August 1999
Abstract
We investigate the sedimentation equilibrium of a
charge-stabilized colloidal suspension in the regime of low ionic
strength. We analyze the asymptotic behaviour of the density
profiles on the basis of a simple Poisson-Boltzmann theory and
show that the effective mass we can deduce from the barometric
law corresponds to the actual mass of the colloidal particles,
contrary to previous studies.
PACS
82.70.Dd Colloids -
05.20.Jj Statistical mechanics of classical fluids -
61.20.Gy Theory and models of liquid structure
Copyright EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag
