Figure 3.
Controlling rigidity of worm micelles. A Fluorescence microscopy snap shots representing worm micelle conformation at 4 sec intervals is shown for a rigid OCL(2, 9) worm micelle (top row), a flexible OCLA(2, 7.4, 1.6) worm micelle (middle row) and a flexible OB(4,6) worm micelle (bottom row). Approximately 10% of OCL(2, 9) worm micelles exhibit rigid-body motion at room temperature while all of OCLA and OB worm micelles are completely flexible. Scale bar for all images is 10 μm. B Percentage of rigid OCL worm micelles (θ) as a function of the size of the hydrophobic block (MCH2) is shown. The data is fit to a power law (R2 = 0.985). The absence of rigid worm micelles in OB and OCLA samples is also indicated. C The fraction of rigid OCL(2, 9) worm micelles (θ) as a function of temperature in kBT units is shown. See text for fit.