title: Measurement of the long- and short-range hydrophobic attraction between surfactant-coated surfaces.
abstract: We have measured the attractive long-range 'hydrophobic' forces in water between double-chained surfactant monolayers physisorbed on mica. We used both normal and high-speed video cameras to follow the dynamics and possible rate-dependence of force-distance profiles in the distance regime from 1000 A to adhesive contact, including the short-distance regime below 100 A-the regime of greatest biological interest. We find that the hydrophobic interaction follows a double-exponential function down to separations of approximately 50 A, after which point the attractive force appears to become considerably stronger.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California at Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Emily E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tadmor
authors.forename: Jacob N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Israelachvili
authors.forename: Tonya L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Kuhl
mesh_terms: D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D013501:Surface-Active Agents