Abstract

The forces between lipid bilayers consist of four main components: van der Waals attraction, hydration forces, fluctuation forces and electrostatic repulsion. The van der Waals attraction between two planar lipid surfaces can be characterized by the effective London-Hamaker coefficient, H (cf. Chapter 19). The attractive pressure between the bilayer surfaces is then given by: P υ d W = − H 6 π ( 1 d w 3 − 2 ( d w + d l ) 3 + 1 ( d w + 2 d l ) 3 )