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Intermediate Membranes

Contents

Page 1 What are surfaces and membranes ?
Page 2 Types and shapes of surfaces and membranes
Page 3 Soap
Description of a simple experiment: An experiment with soap and oil and water. What does the soap do and why? How are the molecules arranged?
Page 4 Soap molecules: love and hate
Amphiphilic properties of surfactant molecules (sketches).
ESSAY: Amphiphiles as surfactants
Page 5 Amphiphilic molecules in water
How do the amphiphilic molecules (soaps for example) form membranes? Simple sketches of micelles and bilayers.
Page 6 What determines the shape?
Page 7 Energy of a membrane
Where does the energy come from to make a balloon go bang? (sketches)
Page 8 Stretching energy
APPLET: Spring extension applet.
Page 9 Bending energy
We try to link energy to effort and the bending of a membrane to the bending of objects such as bamboo sticks.
Page 10 Surfaces and the cells in our body
Page 11 The human red blood cell
Page 12 Surfaces and big computers
Page 13 Simulating membranes with supercomputers
Page 14 Summary
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