Zeta potential Hiickel theory

The Debye thickness decreases with increasing electrolyte concentration and it decreases more for the high-valency electrolytes. The surface potential is estimated, sometimes indirectly, via electrokinetic experiments (see Section 10.6). Through these experiments we can measure the electrophoretic mobility, which for very small or very large particles can be related by theory to the so-called zeta potential (Hiickel and Smoluchowski equations. Equation 10.10). The zeta potential is approximately equal to the surface potential. 

According to the Debye-Hiickel theory, the total charge 0 of a particle is correlated to the dielectric constant e and to the zeta potential by the expres-... 

The mobility is commonly related to the zeta potential,. The appropriate eqnation can be derived nsing the Debye-Hiickel theory. The zeta potential is that at the snrface between the moving electrokinetic unit (charge +q) and that of the mobile part of the donble layer (charge —q) ... 

But biologists and biochemists do use the tools and concepts of physical chemistry. These have their roots in the slightly contaminated water of Debye-Hiickel theory and its extensions to include ion size and double layers. This is so for concepts like pH, buffers, pKa s, ion binding, interactions of ions with surfaces, membrane and zeta potentials, colloidal interactions that are deeply embedded in our collective psyche. The foundations of these have only been questioned over the last decade. The theories used... 

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