The distribution of void sizes in a reticulate gel

Abstract

The conformational properties of reticulate gels are examined in detail. The distribution of void sizes in a reticulate gel is shown to be usually indistinguishable from that in a hypothetical gel comprising a scaffolding of long, straight, randomly oriented, nonintersecting gel fibers. Agarose gel is used as the principle model throughout, but the conclusions are shown to be extendable to other species of gel.