Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 26, 2026

Confocal Imaging of Confined Quiescent and Flowing Colloid-polymer Mixtures
Published on: May 20, 2014
Glasses in hard spheres with short-range attraction
K N Pham1, S U Egelhaaf, P N Pusey
1School of Physics, The University of Edinburgh, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
We report a detailed experimental study of the structure and dynamics of glassy states in hard spheres with short-range attraction. The system is a suspension of nearly hard-sphere colloidal particles and nonadsorbing linear polymer which induces a depletion attraction between the particles. Observation of crystallization reveals a reentrant glass transition. Static light scattering shows a continuous change in the static structure factors upon increasing attraction. Dynamic light scattering results, which cover 11 orders of magnitude in time, are consistent with the existence of two distinct kinds of glasses, those dominated by interparticle repulsion and caging, and those dominated by attraction. Samples close to the "A3 point" predicted by mode coupling theory for such systems show very slow, logarithmic dynamics.
Related Concept Videos
Van der Waals Interactions
Noncovalent Attractions in Biomolecules
Four types of noncovalent interactions are hydrogen bonds, van der Waals forces, ionic bonds, and hydrophobic interactions.
Hydrogen bonding results from the electrostatic attraction of a hydrogen atom covalently bonded to a strong-electronegative atom like oxygen,...
Noncovalent Attractions in Biomolecules
Four types of noncovalent interactions are hydrogen bonds, van der Waals forces, ionic bonds, and hydrophobic interactions.
Hydrogen bonding results from the electrostatic attraction of a hydrogen atom covalently bonded to a strong-electronegative atom like oxygen,...
Intermolecular Forces
Intermolecular Forces
Intermolecular Forces in Solutions
When the strengths of the intermolecular forces of attraction between solute and solvent species in a solution are no different than those present in the separated components, the solution is formed with no accompanying energy change. Such a solution is called an ideal solution. A mixture of ideal gases (or gases such as helium and argon,...
