What is a colloidal suspension?
colloidal suspension is a mixture of usually two materials where one is scattered in the other at the microscopic level but is not chemically bound to it. Liquids, solids and gases can be part of colloidal suspension, except that one gas cannot be suspended in another gas. The particles that act as a colloid in suspension usually have a larger size than the particles found in the solutions and spill from 1 to 1,000 nanometers or a billion meter diameter. They tend to be evenly distributed during the suspension if they have recently been mixed or mixed, but settled at the bottom of the solution for gravity if it is allowed to sit undisturbed for a longer period of time.
good examples of colloidal suspensions include milk, colors and smoke. Milk from cows, goats and other animals is a suspension of fatty globulen in liquid water as an example of a driving colloid suspended in a liquid. Color is an example of a solid colloid suspended inThe liquid, where color pigments, often composed of heavy metal powders such as chrome or zinc oxide, are suspended in oil, water or hydrocarbon solvent. Smoke is an example of a solid colloid suspended in the gas, where smoke consists of fine ash particles as flammable residues scattered in the air. Even human blood is considered to be colloidal suspension, with biological materials such as solid proteins suspended in serum or plasma liquid blood.
The unique feature of many colloids is that they may have an opaque or translucent appearance for them. This is due to the fact that suspended particles are often large enough individually or as a collection of molecules that act on partially scattered light as colloidal suspensions. Blue light tends to be much more efficiently scattered than longer wavelengths of light, such as red light, so colloidal suspension often have a blue look like fog in the air. This property of colloidal suspension was used to createSpecial types of color and varnish that have a reflective quality that gives the glow to the coated surface. Suspension of particles and glow can be maintained to some extent, even after drying.
The properties of colloidal suspension exist in a relatively fine balance. The colloidal particles remain only in suspension and prevent clumping together if the repulsive fees are balanced against the natural attractive forces of Van der Waals in suspension. Artificial means to maintain this balance were developed to create colloidal suspensions. An example of this is the hydrophobic detergent molecule, which can act as a colloid in water with a natural ability to avoid binding to water molecules, but has an attractive charge towards dirt and oil particles also suspended in water.