Taking into account the energy vs. distance functions of the aspecific (macroscopic) repulsion that usually prevails between antigen (Ag) and antibody (Ab) molecules in polar media, as well as the specific (microscopic) attraction between epitope and paratope of Ag and Ab, it proved possible to determine the kinetic constants (von Smoluchowski, 1917; Hammes, 1978) of Ag-Ab interactions, from the surface properties of Ag, Ab and the aqueous medium. The kinetic constants thus found correlate well with experimentally determined kinetic constants in comparable systems, and confirm the importance of the influence of the concentration of one of the reagents (e.g. the Ab) on the kinetic association constant (Van Regenmortel et al., 1994), which is largely due to steric hindrance. Applying the same energy vs. distance approach to the influence of temperature (T) on Ag-Ab reactions, it ensues that the familiar occurrence of an apparent 'enthalpy-entropy compensation' in aqueous media is in fact the relatively gratuitous outcome of a complex set of effects caused by an increase in T, on the total free energy, the hydration energy and, as a result, on the inter-epitope-paratope distance. A close correlation exists between the outcome of these surface-thermodynamic analyses and experimental results.

Thermal expansion is the tendency of matter to increase in size with increasing temperature. Matter generally increases in length, area, and volume, changing Thermal expansion is the tendency of matter to increase in size with increasing temperature. Matter generally increases in length, area, and volume, changing its size and density, in response to an increase in temperature (usually excluding phase transitions). Substances usually contract with decreasing temperature which is called thermal contraction. The SI unit of thermal expansion is the invers Thermal expansion is the tendency of matter to increase in size with increasing temperature. Matter generally increases in length, area, and volume, changing its size and density, in response to an increase in temperature (usually excluding phase transitions). Substances usually contract with decreasing temperature which is called thermal contraction. The SI unit of thermal expansion is the inverse kelvin (K−1). Temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of the molecules in a body. The faster the molecules are moving, the higher that body's temperature is. Specifically, it is a monotonic function of the average molecular kinetic energy of a substance. As the energy in the particles increases, they start moving faster and faster, weakening the intermolecular forces between them and therefore expanding the substance. When a substance is heated, molecules begin to vibrate and move more, usually creating more distance between them. The relative expansion (also called strain) divided by the change in temperature is called the material's coefficient of linear thermal expansion. For small temperature changes, this is nearly constant, but for larger changes it varies with temperature. The coefficient of thermal expansion typically increases with temperature, as higher thermal energy reduces intermolecular forces and allows greater atomic displacement. The expansion and contraction of the materials must be considered when designing large structures, when using tape or chain to measure distances for land surveys, when designing molds for casting hot material, and in other engineering applications when large changes in dimension due to temperature are expected. Thermal expansion is also used in mechanical applications to fit parts over one another, e.g. a bushing can be fitted over a shaft by making its inner diameter slightly smaller than the diameter of the shaft, then heating it until it fits over the shaft, and allowing it to cool after it has been pushed over the shaft, thus achieving a 'shrink fit'. Induction shrink fitting is a common industrial method to pre-heat metal components between 150 °C and 300 °C thereby causing them to expand and allow for the…

The Coulomb interaction between the polar head groups and the lateral pressure were considered. The calculation was made for the three lipid molecules corresponding to DMPC, DPPC, and DSPC. The model agreed well with the following experimental results: the temperature, the latent heat of the gel-to-liquid crystalline phase transition, the temperature dependencies of (a) the intermolecular distance, (b) the number of gauche bonds in a hydrocarbon chain, (c) the order parameter for the bond orientation, (d) the volume of the membrane, (e) the thermal expansion coefficients, and (f) the birefringence. Published in Biophysical journal (1984)