A "colloid" is a substance in which one substance of microscopically dispersed insoluble particles is suspended throughout another substance.
Sometimes the dispersed substance alone is called the colloid; the term "colloidal suspension" refers unambiguously to the overall mixture . Unlike a solution, whose solute and solvent constitute only one phase, a colloid has a dispersed phase and a continuous phase . To qualify as a colloid, the mixture must be one that does not settle or would take a very long time to settle appreciably.
The dispersed-phase particles have a diameter of between approximately 1 and
1000 nanometers. Such particles are normally easily visible in an optical microscope, although at the smaller size range , an ultramicroscope or an electron microscope may be required.
Homogeneous mixtures with a dispersed phase in this size range may be called "colloidal aerosols", "colloidal emulsions", "colloidal foams", "colloidal dispersions", or "hydrosols". The dispersed-phase particles or droplets are affected largely by the surface chemistry present in the colloid.
Some colloids are translucent because of the
Tyndall effect, which is the scattering of light by particles in the colloid. Other colloids may be opaque or have a slight color.
Colloidal suspensions are the subject of
interface and colloid science. This field of study was introduced in 1861 by
Scottish scientist
Thomas Graham.
Because the size of the dispersed phase may be difficult to measure, and because colloids have the appearance of solutions, colloids are sometimes identified and characterized by their physico-chemical and transport properties. For example, if a colloid consists of a solid phase dispersed in a liquid, the solid particles will not diffuse through a membrane, whereas with a true solution the dissolved ions or molecules will diffuse through a membrane. Because of the size exclusion, the colloidal particles are unable to pass through the pores of an ultrafiltration membrane with a size smaller than their own dimension. The smaller the size of the pore of the ultrafiltration membrane, the lower the concentration of the dispersed colloidal particles remaining in the ultrafiltered liquid. The measured value of the concentration of a truly dissolved species will thus depend on the experimental conditions applied to separate it from the colloidal particles also dispersed in the liquid. This is particularly important for solubility studies of readily hydrolyzed species such as Al, Eu, Am, Cm, or organic matter complexing these species.
Colloids can be classified as follows:
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- published: 10 Sep 2015
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