Electron microscopy of beaded agarose gels

Abstract

Abstract Electron microscopy has been carried out on sections of beaded agarose with a wide range of thicknesses, and the results have been analyzed by means of stereological theory using computer graphics. The results agree with a randomly orientated system in which, for 4% gels, the mean molecular weight per unit length of the fiber system is 110 kg mol −1 nm −1 , and the number average interjunction length is 37 nm, with an asymmetrical distribution resembling a Maxwell‐Boltzmann distribution. The spatial distribution of the structure is not uniformly random and there seem to be mi microvoids.