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Cork insulation; a complete illustrated textbook on cork insulation ...

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234 CORK INSULATION<br />

enveloping membrane tending always to c<strong>on</strong>tract the surface<br />

of the liquid to the minimum exposed area.* When a sub-<br />

stance is colloidally dispersed, the efifect of gravity is c<strong>on</strong>-<br />

siderably counteracted, while surface tensi<strong>on</strong>, electric (i<strong>on</strong>ic)<br />

charge, and other forms of energy increase greatly.<br />

Thus by lowering the surface tensi<strong>on</strong> of water, by the<br />

introducti<strong>on</strong> of an alkali, an oil-in-water emulsi<strong>on</strong> should keep<br />

l<strong>on</strong>ger. But water molecules are always in c<strong>on</strong>stant moti<strong>on</strong><br />

when above absolute zero temperature, and bombard the suspended<br />

colloids of oil from all sides, tending to move them<br />

about, and thus to coagulate or unite up<strong>on</strong> touching due to<br />

the surface tensi<strong>on</strong> of oil. Then, too, particles in the col-<br />

loidal state bearing unlike electric charges, tend to attract<br />

each other, and thus coagulate; while particles similarly<br />

charged, tend to repel, and thus move about, and coagulate<br />

up<strong>on</strong> touching.<br />

It will be seen that lowering the surface tensi<strong>on</strong> often<br />

exerts c<strong>on</strong>siderable influence in emulsificati<strong>on</strong>, but the c<strong>on</strong>-<br />

centrati<strong>on</strong> of a film of some n<strong>on</strong>-adhesive gelatin substance<br />

around the suspended colloids, so that they have difficulty in<br />

touching, is usually of more importance.<br />

There are several methods of subdividing comm<strong>on</strong> substances<br />

so that they may be colloidally suspended, some meth-<br />

ods being purely mechanical and others chemical ; but in c<strong>on</strong>necti<strong>on</strong><br />

with proposed chemical methods, it must be remem-<br />

bered that colloidal suspensi<strong>on</strong>s are not true soluti<strong>on</strong>s, colloid<br />

aggregates often being thousands of times as large as a mole-<br />

cule while molecules <strong>on</strong>ly are found in true soluti<strong>on</strong>s.<br />

Colloid particles have an ability to adsorb other substances,<br />

that is, hold other substances to their surfaces, and it is this<br />

property that makes it possible to coat or cover such colloids<br />

with a n<strong>on</strong>-adhesive substance, such as starch or geletin or<br />

clay, so that the colloids will not coalesce or unite when they<br />

touch each other. On the other hand, if the particles in sus-<br />

pensi<strong>on</strong> were originally of too great size to fall within the<br />

range of the colloidal realm, and thus are bey<strong>on</strong>d the help of<br />

*A cube 1 cm. <strong>on</strong> edge has a surface of 6 sq. cm. If subdivided in much smaller<br />

cubes 100 //// <strong>on</strong> edge, the total surface is 600,000 sq. cm If further subdivided into<br />

the colloidal realm of cubes 10 /i/i <strong>on</strong> edge, the total surface is 6,000,000 sq. cm. Surface<br />

tensi<strong>on</strong> tends to reduce the colloidal particles to the cube 1 cm. <strong>on</strong> edge, or,<br />

more properly, to a sphere.

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