Measurements by the technique of particle electrophoresis reveal that different well characterized solid surfaces freshly exposed to seawater become covered by a tenacious film of natural surface‐active organic matter which dominates their subsequent surface chemistry. The dependence of electrophoretic mobility ( u e ) on pH and metal ion concentration (pM) indicates that carboxylic acid (−COOH) and phenolic (−OH) groups are the major ionizable functional groups in the organic film exposed to the solution. Detailed treatment of the data on u e vs. pH and u e vs. pM allows calculation of intrinsic equilibrium constants for the dissociation of surface carboxylic acid groups and the complexation of metal ions by the organic film. The results obtained are in substantial agreement with data derived from more classical potentiometric titrations of marine and freshwater organic matter isolated by adsorption or ultrafiltration methods.
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Keith A. Hunter (1980) studied this question.