Forces

Abstract

Since membranes are constructed of molecules and belief in vital forces is unfashionable, it can be safely assumed that the forces within membranes are no different from the familiar electrostatic and van der Waals forces used to account for the properties of all molecular ensembles. If this is so, the devotion of a complete chapter to intermolecular forces appears to be an indulgence. The author’s justification is twofold. First, the literature on membranes contains concepts that are unfamiliar to the average student — hydrophobic forces, image forces, structural forces, and so forth. Second, the full implications of some familiar terms (e.g., the van der Waals force) are widely misunderstood. In this chapter we will attempt to present the current viewpoint on these and other forces. Those fed on the neat certainties of undergraduate textbooks may be pleasantly surprised, and possibly challenged by the dynamic nature of the theory of intermolecular interactions. A comforting note: Principles will be stressed; mathematics will be kept in the wings.