Colloid vibration potential in a suspension of spherical colloidal particles

Abstract

When a sound wave is applied to a suspension of colloidal particles in an electrolyte solution, the colloid vibration potential (CVP) is produced in the suspension. The CVP is proportional to the difference between the mass density of the particles and that of the electrolyte solution. For a suspension of biological colloids such as cells, whose mass density is only slightly different from the electrolyte solution, its CVP becomes very small so that the magnitude of the ion vibration potential (IVP) of the electrolyte solution exceeds that of CVP. This causes difficulty in analyzing the CVP in biological systems. In the present paper, we show that even in such cases the phase of CVP becomes much greater than that of IVP.