Direct measurement of the free energy by optical microscopy

@article{citeulike:2883580, abstract = {We report the direct measurement of thermodynamic properties of colloidal hard spheres by optical microscopy. By using confocal microscopy, we obtain three-dimensional snapshots of a colloidal hard-sphere suspension over a wide range of densities. From these snapshots, the available volume to insert an additional sphere and the surface area of that volume are determined, which are directly related to the thermodynamics of the system. This procedure enables us to measure in a direct and noninterfering way, in principle, all thermodynamic properties, here demonstrated for the pressure, the chemical potential, and the free-energy density of a colloidal hard-sphere suspension. The "visual" determination of thermodynamic quantities opens up the possibility to experimentally study the relation between thermodynamics and geometry in real space beyond the hard-sphere potential. 10.1073/pnas.0507052103}, author = {Dullens, Roel P. and Aarts, Dirk G. and Kegel, Willem K. }, citeulike-article-id = {2883580}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0507052103}, journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}, keywords = {colloids, confocal, hard-sphere, journal-club, stat-mech}, month = {January}, number = {3}, pages = {529--531}, posted-at = {2008-06-11 19:55:43}, priority = {0}, title = {Direct measurement of the free energy by optical microscopy}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0507052103}, volume = {103}, year = {2006} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:2883580 L3 - citeulike-article-id:2883580 TI - Direct measurement of the free energy by optical microscopy JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences VL - 103 IS - 3 SP - 529 EP - 531 N2 - We report the direct measurement of thermodynamic properties of colloidal hard spheres by optical microscopy. By using confocal microscopy, we obtain three-dimensional snapshots of a colloidal hard-sphere suspension over a wide range of densities. From these snapshots, the available volume to insert an additional sphere and the surface area of that volume are determined, which are directly related to the thermodynamics of the system. This procedure enables us to measure in a direct and noninterfering way, in principle, all thermodynamic properties, here demonstrated for the pressure, the chemical potential, and the free-energy density of a colloidal hard-sphere suspension. The "visual" determination of thermodynamic quantities opens up the possibility to experimentally study the relation between thermodynamics and geometry in real space beyond the hard-sphere potential. 10.1073/pnas.0507052103 KW - colloids KW - confocal KW - hard-sphere KW - journal-club KW - stat-mech AU - Dullens, Roel AU - Aarts, Dirk AU - Kegel, Willem PY - 2006/01/17/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0507052103 ER -