Dynamics of Suspended Colloidal Spheres

Suspensions of sub micron sized particles in a liquid are found in industrial processes and products, such as paints, pharmaceuticals, ceramics, and foods, and in nature as biological fluids. There is, at present, much interest in understanding the properties of suspensions at a fundamental micro­ scopic level. To a significant extent, the current effort in this area stems from the development of an increasing number of model colloidal systems, sUlitable for quantitative experimental study, which are composed of nearly equal-sized (i .e. monodispcrse) spherical particles. Such systems show a ricb variety of equilibrium (or static) and dynamic behavior. The length and time scales of colloidal suspensions extend well beyond the microscopic regime, yet instructive analogies with the properties of simple atomic liquids and solids can be identified. Thus, a dilute suspension is