ABSTRACT
If a liquid contains no droplets of an immiscible liquid but only suspended particles and if we have no need to recover the particles to be separated, the following generalizations apply. As particles approach the face of a filter medium, those particles larger than the pores do not enter. Those that do enter the few large pores do not get very far. Recall the probability curves in Figure 3.4. As medium-sized particles enter the face of the filter medium, some may go deep into it, and some may even pass through. Some that do not pass through pull away from the laminar flow stream as the stream turns a corner so that inertia carries them to a pore wall. Once on the wall they stick, by van der Waals forces, unless knocked off by sudden surges in fluid flow or vibration. In laminar flow the velocity of the liquid on the pore wall is nil, so the particles are not easily washed away.
