EFFECT OF PARTICLE DIAMETER ON EXCLUSION-ZONE SIZE

Particle Displacement in Aqueous Suspension Arising from Incident Radiant Energy

Colloidal particles in aqueous suspension generally sediment uniformly. By contrast, we found that suspensions of latex microspheres in polystyrene Petri dishes deviated sharply from the expected pattern when various objects were positioned immediately outside those dishes. When small coin-like metal discs were positioned immediately beneath the Petri dish, the microspheres sedimented to a point just above those discs. Other materials, including glass and wood, produced similar results, though less pronounced. After the microspheres had sedimented, shifting the metal to another position beneath the dish caused the microspheres to follow. Various control experiments ruled out trivial explanations. In concordance with earlier results, it appears that the infrared energy generated by the various materials draws microspheres, resulting in the unusual sedimentation patterns. The results have significant implications for the mechanism of sedimentation, particularly for the role of charge in that process.

Aluminum-induced entropy in biological systems: implications for neurological disease

Over the last 200 years, mining, smelting, and refining of aluminum (Al) in various forms have increasingly exposed living species to this naturally abundant metal. Because of its prevalence in the earth's crust, prior to its recent uses it was regarded as inert and therefore harmless. However, Al is invariably toxic to living systems and has no known beneficial role in any biological systems. Humans are increasingly exposed to Al from food, water, medicinals, vaccines, and cosmetics, as well as from industrial occupational exposure. Al disrupts biological self-ordering, energy transduction, and signaling systems, thus increasing biosemiotic entropy. Beginning with the biophysics of water, disruption progresses through the macromolecules that are crucial to living processes (DNAs, RNAs, proteoglycans, and proteins). It injures cells, circuits, and subsystems and can cause catastrophic failures ending in death. Al forms toxic complexes with other elements, such as fluorine, and interacts negatively with mercury, lead, and glyphosate. Al negatively impacts the central nervous system in all species that have been studied, including humans. Because of the global impacts of Al on water dynamics and biosemiotic systems, CNS disorders in humans are sensitive indicators of the Al toxicants to which we are being exposed.

Light-induced effects on Brownian displacements

Earlier work on particles in aqueous solution indicated that particle hydration could be expanded by incident light. To assess the effects of expanded hydration we measured Brownian displacements of microspheres exposed to light of varying intensities and wavelengths. Displacements were consistently diminished in an intensity-dependent and wavelength-dependent fashion, and center-to-center distances between microspheres were shifted to higher values. We conclude that suspended microspheres are surrounded by hydration zones substantial enough to impact Brownian displacements.