King parrot
Stjepan Marcelja
Visiting Fellow, ANU
Professor, Department of Physics, University of Split, Croatia
e-mail:stjepan.marcelja@anu.edu.au
Tel:  +385 981371076, +61-2-6125 4694
Fax: +61-2-6125 0732

Current research

Electrical double layers in the aqueous solvent

The traditional research of the Department of Applied Mathematics is in surface forces. For many years I worked on different aspects of electrical double layers in aqueous solutions. Most of conventional work neglects ion-ion correlations or the molecular nature of the solvent or both. We now include these features and find answers to a number of important questions. More information is provided on the double layer page.

Nelson Beach, Vincentia, Jervis Bay
Bubble coalescence in electrolytes

Why do sea waves foam much more than their fresh water counterparts?
Ion separation at the surface results in a significant barrier (e.g. NaCl) and without separation there is only attractive force (HCl).

Is hydroxide ion adsorption responsible for the negative charge observed in electrophoretic  experiments with oil droplets or bubbles in water? We currently investigate this controversial subject.







  Split, Croatia
  In Spring semesters I teach at the
  University of Split.


 

  During the three years 2002-2004 I was the
  director of this institute in Zagreb, Croatia.
  Some of my reports or newspaper articles
  from this period (in Croatian language) are
  available here.


Past work, general comments and references

 

In the past, I worked in superconducting thin films [1], liquid crystals [2], biological membranes [3], signals in the visual cortex [4] and the structure of microemulsions [5]. Most interesting examples are shown in the pages of past work. I am interested in describing and understanding natural phenomena in quantitative terms, and always like to hear a new question or challenge. Find me at the ANU, in Split or send an email!
 

  1. S. Marcelja, W.E. Masker and R.D. Parks, Electrical conductivity of a two-dimensional superconductor, Physical Review Letters 22 (1969) 124-127.

  2. S. Marcelja, Chain ordering in liquid crystals. I. Even-odd effect, Journal of Chemical Physics 60 (1974) 3599-3604.

  3. S. Marcelja, Chain ordering in liquid crystals. II. Structure of bilayer membranes, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 367 (1975) 165-176.

  4. S. Marcelja, Mathematical description of the responses of simple cortical cells, Journal of the Optical Society of America 70 (1980) 1297-1300.

  5. P. Pieruschka, S. Marcelja, Statistical mechanics of random bicontinuous phases, J Physique II France 2 (1992) 235.

Updated 23/3/08
-> to ANU Applied Maths Dept
-> to Aqueous double layers
-> to Past work