The properties of elastic membranes with special reference to the cell surface

✍ Scribed by Harvey, E. Newton

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 1936
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 531 KB
• Volume: 8
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0095-9898
• DOI: 10.1002/jcp.1030080210

✦ Synopsis

The method for measuring the surface tension of a fluid drop or bubble from the amount of flattening it undergoes when resting on a surface, has been used chiefly in the case of mercury o r gases. In these substances the difference in density between medium and drop is great enough to cause sufficient flattening under the influence of gravity with relatively small bubbles. The method may be used for living cells without membranes if their tension is low and their size great enough to give the necessary flattening. If centrifugal force is used instead of gravity, a much smaller cell will flatten sufficiently to apply the equations. Dorsey ( '28) has critically reviewed the various equations used by different investigators and proposed the following relation for calculating the tension, T.

in which g is the force of gravity, d-d', the difference in density between drop and medium, r, the radius of greatest flattening of the drop, and F a function which involves f, a term representing the flattening.