Polymer shape anisotropy and the depletion interaction.
We calculate the second and third virial coefficients of the effective sphere-sphere interaction due to polymer-induced depletion forces. By utilizing the anisotropy of a typical polymer conformation, we can consider polymers that are roughly the same size as the spheres. We argue that recent experiments are laboratory evidence for polymer shape anisotropy.
Triantafillou
M
M
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
Kamien
R D
RD