The theory of Maxwell-Boltzmann-Helmholtz-Gouy about the double electric layer in disperse systems and its application to soil science (on the 100th anniversary of the paper published by Gouy)

Numerous experimental data obtained by different methods confirm the theoretical ideas about the electric nature of the interaction between the solid and liquid soil phases, which were first suggested by the Maxwell-Boltzmann-Helmholtz-Gouy and Deryagin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek theories about the double electric layer in two-phase disperse systems. The interaction between the solid phase and water in the diffuse part of this layer may be described by the theoretically derived equation lnP w = A − BW, where P w is the soil moisture pressure, W is the ratio between the masses of the water and the solid phase in the soil, and A and B are physically grounded parameters. The exponential form of this equation first predicted by the out-standing researcher Gouy 100 years ago results from the exponential distribution of ions in the diffuse layer near the electrically charged surface of the solid soil phase.