Two surfaces that come in close contact in a solution with macromolecules present experience an attractive force caused by the osmotic pressure. We present a measurement of this effect by using a micrometer-sized sphere bound to a f lat plate through a single molecular attachment in an albumin-containing solution. We obtain the osmotic part of the interaction potential with a resolution of <1 nm and a fraction of kT room . This attractive interaction is seen to have a range comparable to the size of the albumin molecule. The results are broadly in agreement with a geometric model first proposed by Asakura and Oosawa.
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