Svedberg

Svedberg, Theodor or The, 1884-1971, Swedish chemist. He was professor of physical chemistry from 1912 to 1949 at the Univ. of Uppsala. For his fundamental research on colloid chemistry he received the 1926 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Svedberg studied especially the giant protein molecules, evolving for this work an ultracentrifuge. He wrote Colloid Chemistry (1924, 2d ed. 1928) and was (with K. O. Pedersen) coauthor of The Ultracentrifuge (1940).

A svedberg (symbol S, sometimes Sv, not to be confused with Sv for the SI unit sievert as well as the non-SI sverdrup) is a non-SI physical unit used for sedimentation coefficients. It characterizes the behaviour of a particle type in sedimentation processes, notably centrifugation. The svedberg is technically a measure of time, and is defined as exactly 10^-13 seconds (100 fs).

The unit is named after the Swedish chemist Theodor Svedberg (1884-1971), winner of the Nobel prize in chemistry in 1926 for his work in the chemistry of colloids and his invention of the ultracentrifuge.

Bigger particles generally sediment faster, and therefore have higher svedberg values. The svedberg is however not additive. Since the sedimentation rate is associated with the size of the particle, when two particles bind together there is inevitably a loss of surface area. Thus when measured separately they will have svedberg values that do not add up to that of the particle formed when they bind together.

The svedberg is the most important measure used to distinguish ribosomes.

See Also

• Sedimentation coefficient

External links

• Svedberg unit - Nobelprize.org