Use of Hamaker constants

Once we have established reasonable values for the Hamaker constants we shonld be able to calculate, for example, adhesion and surface energies, as well as the interaction between macroscopic bodies and colloidal particles. Clearly, this is possible if the only forces involved are van der Waals forces. That this is the case for non-polar liquids such as hydrocarbons can be illustrated by calculating the surface energy of these liqnids, which can be directly measured. When we separate a liquid in air we mnst do work Wc (per unit area) to create new surface, thus  

Although for some interfaces it can be difficult to calculate the surface energy in this way, the Hamaker constant does afford us a powerful 

In 1991, the same author helped to develop a new experimental procedure, called the colloid probe technique , which is now widely used to measure the interaction forces between colloidal surfaces (see Ducker et ah, 1991). 

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