ABSTRACT
The phenomenon of adhesion between a particle and a surface has been attributed to the existence of electric charges between the surfaces. Among the explanations for these electric charges are van der Waals forces and some localized surface electric charges [1]. There is no attempt in this article to review the extensive lit erature on this topic [2, 3]. Rather, the primary objective here is to present a new thermodynamic theory that predicts the electric forces of adhesion. Specifically, it is shown that when two surfaces are brought in contact, provided that certain
thermodynamic parameters are different across their interface, the first and second laws require that an electric dipole charge be formed. Consequently, the two sur faces will be attracted to each other under the action of Coulomb forces.
