Lecture 1 B
Solutions, Suspension and
Colloidal System
Solutions
It is a common observation that when a little sugars or salt is
dissolved in water a homogeneous and stable mixture of the
two components is obtained which is called as solution.
Of these two components, the one (here sugar or the salt)
which is present in small quantity is called as solute while
the other (here water) present in large quantity is called as
solvent.
Solutions
The solution is homogeneous because the
molecules or the solute become evenly distributed
throughout the solvent.
It is a stable system because the molecules or the
ions do not settle down.
Sometimes more than one molecule may be
dissolved in a solvent to form a stable and
homogeneous mixture.
the particles are not visible even under highest
power of the microscope.
Solutions
Thus, true solution may be defined as :
Homogeneous and stable mixture of two or more
chemical substances.
Solutions
Particle sizes distinguish one homogeneous mixture from
another.
Solutions are mixtures with particle sizes at the molecule or
ion level.
The particles have dimensions between 0.1 to 2 nanometers.
Typically solutions are transparent. Light can usually pass
through the solution.
If the solute is able to absorb visible light then the solution
will have a color.
A solution cannot be filtered but can be separated
using the process of distillation.
Suspensions
A suspension is a mixture between two substances,
one of which is finely divided and dispersed in the
other.
Common suspensions include sand in water, dust
in air, and droplets of oil in air.
Particles in a suspension will settle out if the
suspension is allowed to stand undisturbed.
Suspensions
Many particles of a suspension can be separated
through a filter.
Suspensions are homogeneous mixtures with particles
that have diameters greater than 1000 nm.
The size of the particles is great enough so they are
visible to the naked eye.
They do not transmit light.
Colloidal System
A colloid is intermediate between a solution and a
suspension.
The size of the colloidal particles is in between the
size of particles of true solutions and suspension.
While a suspension will separate out, a colloid will
not.
Colloidal System
There are 8 different kinds of colloidal system, one of
them (solid + liquid type) .
This type of colloidal in which the solid forms the
dispersed phase and the liquid dispersion medium,
has a fluid like consistency and is called as colloidal
solution or sol.
The particles of the dispersed phase in colloidal
solution are called as colloidal particles or sol
particles or micelles.
Colloidal System
The colloidal particles are not visible under
microscope but can be observed under an
ultramicroscope.
Types of Colloidal solutions :
a)
lyophilic (solvent loving) called emulsions,
there is an affinity between the particles of
the two phases, When water is the
dispersion medium it is called hydrophilic
b)
lyophobic (solvent hating) called
suspensions, When water is the dispersion
medium it is called hydrophobic.
Colloidal System
Colloids are mixtures with particle sizes that consist
of clumps of molecules.
The particles have dimensions between 2 to 1000
nanometers.
The colloid looks homogeneous to the naked eye.
milk is an example of colloids.
Solution
Suspension
Colloid
Appearance
Clear, transparent
and homogeneous
Cloudy,
heterogeneous, at
least two substances
visible
Cloudy but
uniform
and homogeneous
Particle Size
molecule in size
(10-7-10-8 cm)
larger than 10,000
Angstroms
(10-3-10-5 cm)
10-1000
Angstroms
(10-3-10-7 cm)
Effect of Light
Tyndall Effect
none -- light passes
through, particles
do not reflect light
variable
light is dispersed
by colloidal
particles
Effect of
None
Sedimentation
particles will
Eventually settle out
None
Visibility
Particles visible even
with naked eye
Particles visible
under
ultramicroscope
Particles non
visible even under
The ultramicroscope
Important Properties of Colloidal Solution
1. Filterability
The colloidal particles are unable to pass through
parchment membrane.
Important Properties of Colloidal Solution
2. Adsorption and Increased
Surface Area
The colloidal particles have a
tendency to attract and retain at
their surface other particles with
which they come in contact. This is
called as adsorption.
The adsorption is increased if the
surface area of the same mass of an
adsorbent is also increased.
Important Properties of Colloidal Solution
2. Adsorption and Increased Surface Area
In a colloidal solution the little mass of dispersed
phase is present in the form of a large number of
small particles, thus increasing its total surface area.
The adsorption and the large surface area offered by
the colloidal particles help to carry on many complex
biochemical reaction in the protoplasm.
Important Properties of Colloidal Solution
3.Tyndal Effect
If a strong beam of light is passed through a colloidal
solution and viewed from the side a bluish light cone
illuminates the path of the beam.
This phenomenon is called as Tyndall effect and
results due to the scattering or diffraction of light by
the colloidal particles.
Important Properties of Colloidal Solution
4. Brownian Movement
Brownian movement may be used to
distinguish between solutions and colloids.
Brownian motion is the random movement of
colloidal particles suspended in a liquid or
gas, caused by interference with molecules of
the surrounding medium.
However colloid particles are large enough to
be observed and are small enough to still be
affect by the random molecular motion.
Important Properties of Colloidal Solution
5. Electric Properties
The colloidal particles constituting
the dispersal phase carry an electric
charge probably due to the
preferential adsorption of ions
present in the dispersion medium.
All these colloidal particles in a
particular colloidal system carry
electric charge of the same sign.
As a result, they repel each other and
remain dispersed in the dispersion
medium, and if the colloidal solution
is placed under an electric field, all
these particles move towards the
oppositely charged pole.
Important Properties of Colloidal Solution
5. Electric Properties
This phenomenon is called as cataphoresis or electrophoresis.
Gums, Starch etc., are some of the examples of negative sols.
While basic dyes such as methylene blue, metallic hydroxides
such as Al(OH)3 are examples of positive sols.
However, a colloidal solution is electrically neutral as a whole
because the particles of the dispersion medium have equal
electric charge of opposite sign.
Important Properties of Colloidal Solution
6. Coagulation or Flocculation
The precipitation of
the colloidal
particles constituting
the dispersed phase
of the colloidal
solution by the
addition of an
electrolyte is called
as coagulation or
flocculation.
Important Properties of Colloidal Solution
6. Coagulation or Flocculation
It is because the electric charge carried by the
particles of dispersed phase is neutralized by the
electrically charged ions resulting from the
dissociation of the electrolyte in colloidal solution.
Now these colloidal particles can no longer repel each
other.
They come close to each other due to Brownian
movements and soon settle down to gravity.
Important Properties of Colloidal Solution
7. Osmotic Pressure
The osmotic pressure of the colloidal solution is
usually very small.
Important Properties of Colloidal Solution
8. Dialysis
The colloidal particles are unable to pass
through parchment membrane or
collodion but true solution can pass
them.
Thus a true solution if mixed with a
colloidal solution can be separated from
the latter by filtration through such
membranes.
This method of purifying a colloidal
solution or separating a colloid from a
crystalloid by filtration through a
membrane was called as dialysis .
Colloidal Nurture of Protoplasm
Although a large number of chemical substances are found in
the protoplasm with water constituting the major portion, the
protoplasm is not a true solution.
Most of the particle phase of the protoplasm is colloidal in
nature.
Again, it is not a simple colloidal system but is considered as
complex colloidal system of many phases and shows many
properties of the colloidal system. The consistency of the
protoplasm is both of a sol and a gel type.
The cell membranes seem to be more gel-like in nature.
However, both these forms are not static but constantly
changing.
Colloidal Nurture of Protoplasm
The colloidal nature of the protoplasm is chiefly due to the
presence of protein molecules which often reach colloidal
dimensions and are distributed through it.
In fact, these macromolecules of proteins constitute next
major category of chemical substances after water in
protoplasm.
Moreover, all the enzymes are essentially proteins which
provide large surfaces due to their large and often colloidal
dimensions to catalyse most of the biochemical reactions in
the protoplasm so important for life to exit.
