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Surface Phenomena and Colloids
Surface Phenomena and Colloids
AND COLLOIDS
SURFACE TENSION
SURFACE TENSION
• A molecule of a liquid attracts the molecules which surround it
and in its turn it is attracted by them
• For the molecules which are inside a liquid, the resultant of all
these forces is neutral and all them are in equilibrium by
reacting with each other.
• When these molecules are on the surface, they are attracted by
the molecules below and by the lateral ones, but not toward the
outside.
• The resultant is a force directed inside the liquid. In its turn, the
cohesion among the molecules supplies a force tangential to
the surface.
• So, a fluid surface behaves like an elastic membrane which
wraps and compresses the below liquid.
• The surface tension expresses the force with which the surface
molecules attract each other.
WETTABILITY
WETTABILITY
• Why does one fabric absorb water well while another seems to
refuse it?
• Why does water collect into large drops on a greasy surface and
instead form an adherent film on a clean surface? According to
the nature of the liquid and the solid, a drop of liquid placed on a
solid surface will adhere to it more or less.
• To understand this phenomenon it is necessary to take into
account the fact that molecules of a liquid are subject to a
cohesive force which keeps them united to one another, but
there is also an adhesive force which is the force with which the
molecules of the liquid adhere to the surface of materials that they
contact.
• When the forces of adhesion are greater than the forces of
cohesion, the liquid tends to wet the surface, when instead the
forces of adhesion are less by comparison to those of cohesion,
the liquid tends to "refuse" the surface. In this people speak of
wettability between liquids and solids.
• For example, water wets clean glass, but it does not wet wax.
CAPILLARITY
CAPILLARITY
• Let us stay in the field of the wettability.
• Surely you have noticed that water tends to rise near the walls of a
glass container.
• This happens because the molecules of this liquid have a strong
tendency to adhere to the glass.
• Liquids which wet the walls make concave surfaces (eg: water/glass),
those which do not wet them, make convex surfaces (eg:
mercury/glass).
• Inside tubes with internal diameter smaller than 2 mm, called capillary
tubes, a wettable liquid forms a concave meniscus in its upper surface
and tends to go up along the tube
• On the contrary, a non-wettable liquid forms a convex meniscus and its
level tends to go down.
• The amount of liquid attracted by the capillary rises until the forces
which attract it balance the weight of the fluid column.
• The rising or the lowering of the level of the liquids into thin tubes is
named capillarity.
• Also the capillarity is driven by the forces of cohesion and adhesion we
have already mentioned.
WETTABILITY
SOAPS AND DETERGENTS
SOAPS AND DETERGENTS
• How do soaps and detergents work in removing dirt?
• Soaps and detergents are formed by special molecules, which
have a hydrophilic head, which therefore loves to remain in water
and a hydrophobic tail, which avoids water and loves fat
substances
• Because of their hydrophobic tail, a part of the molecules of
detergent collects to the water surface forming a monomolecular
layer it lowers the surface tension of the water and makes
easier its penetration into the fabrics to be cleaned.
• Within the water, the molecules of detergent collect themselves
in micelles and membranes, little aggregates of molecules united
by their hydrophobic tail
• When they meet dirt, these molecules surround the particles and
insert their tail in them.
• The hydrophilic heads attract the dirt toward water and with the
agitation of the liquid they contribute to remove the dirt from the
fabric.
SOAPS AND DETERGENTS
• The crown of hydrophilic heads carries the particles of dirt in
the water where they end up in suspension and then they are
rinsed away.
• Hence, the dirt water contains also greasy particles which have
been emulsified.
• For the same reason, the detergents aid the formation of
emulsions.
• The substances which lower the surface tension of a liquid are
called surfactants (from: surface-active agents).
• The lowering of the surface tension of the water allows the
formation of soapy membranes, foam and soap bubbles.
CAPILLARITY
SOAP BUBBLES
SOAP BUBBLES
• HOW DO THE SOAP BUBBLES FORM?
• "How do soap bubbles form?
• Why does soapy water produce foam while pure water does
not?".
• When water sprays from a tap in a small basin, you can see
bubbles form, but they burst very soon.
• This is due to the fact that the surface tension of the normal
water is high and it tends to draw the water molecules into the
main body of the water, to the point where the thickness of the
bubble wall is too thin to remain intact and quickly bursts.
• Instead, the surface tension of the soapy water is much lower:
about a third of the pure water, so the molecules of the bubble
are less stressed and it can last longer.
SOAP BUBBLES
• Soap and detergents lower the surface tension of water and,
as we have said, they are called surfactants.
• As we have said in the paragraph on the soaps and
detergents, the molecules of surfactants have a hydrophilic
head and a hydrophobic tail.
• When these molecules are dissolved in water, they tend to
collect on the surface with the tails outward, forming
continuous layers (figure 12 B).
• The membranes of soapy water are made up by three layers:
the external two are formed by surfactant molecules and the
internal layer is formed by soapy water (figure 12 C).
• These layers of surfactant molecules are very elastic and they
deform easily without breaking. They also slow the
evaporation of the water film and so extend the life of the
bubbles.
OSMOSIS
OSMOSIS
• If you place two solutions of different concentration side by
side, keeping them separated only by means of a membrane,
you will see the level of the more concentrated solution
increase.
• This happens because the two solutions try to attain the same
concentration by diffusion.
• The membrane has to be semipermeable, that is it has to
allow the passage of the solvent but not of the solute.
• The molecules of the solvent have to be smaller than those of
the dissolved substance.
• In practice, this condition is very frequent given that the
molecules of water are very small.
OSMOSIS
•
• It is necessary to remember that it is possible to make
solutions with other liquids also.
• Osmosis is the tendency of the system to reach the same
concentration in both solutions.
• It is a phenomenon of great importance in biology and which
is also the basis of the function of the kidney, of the
absorption of water by plants and which is used by industries
to concentrate or to purify solutions.
• In fact, applying a pressure on the side of the more
concentrated solution, it is possible to reverse the process
and cause the solvent to pass to the less concentrated
solution.
• This is the process of the reverse osmosis. It is used also to
purify water, to concentrate solutions, etc.
CAPILLARITY
SOLUTIONS
SOLUTIONS
• A solution is a homogeneous mixture of two or more substances.
When placed in water, many substances dissolve and are called
soluble, others do not dissolve and are called insoluble.
• Salt and sugar easily dissolve in water.
• If instead you put sand in water, you can mix for as long as you
want, but you will not succeed in dissolving the sand.
• In fact, sand is insoluble in water.
• In a solution, the material present in greater quantity is defined
solvent and that in smaller quantity solute.
• What does it mean to say that a substance is soluble in another?
• It means that the molecules of the solute separate each other and
they disperse among those of the solvent.
• Instead, the insoluble substances keep themselves compact and
their molecules do not disperse into the solvent.
SOLUTIONS
• As solvent, we have used the example of water because many
solids are soluble in water, but nearly every liquid can be a
solvent.
• And then, why we should limit ourselves to the liquids?
• Let us generalize the concept of solvent and concede to all
substances, solid or liquid or gaseous the possibility to be a
solvent.
• At this point, even the solutes can belong to all of these three
states of matter.
• For example, some solid solutions are the metal alloys such as
steel (Fe+C), brass (Cu+Zn), bronze (Cu+Sn).
• Finally, all gases are completely soluble among each other.
• Also common are solutions of gases in liquids.
• For example, carbon dioxide is added to many beverages to
make them fizz. In the water of ponds, rivers and seas, gases like
oxygen, carbon dioxide and others go into solution in a natural
way.
CATEGORIES OF SOLUTIONS