Abstract
THE subject of colloid chemistry is intimately associated with the properties and peculiarities of interfaces, of which those formed by liquids and solids are the most important. The difficulties met with in an exact study of reactions taking place in colloidal systems are greatly enhanced by their dispersity, and in addition the application of thermodynamic methods to the treatment of the two-dimensional inter-facial phases becomes a problem of great complexity when these phases are subdivided and not plane but curved. For these reasons the increasing attention which is being devoted to surface phenomena is a development to be welcomed. As the late Lord Rayleigh first indicated, the properties of oil films on water studied by Miss Pockels give us valuable information on molecular magnitudes, a view which has been emphasised and amply confirmed by the able experiments of numerous investigators, notably Devaux, Langmuir and Adam.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
RIDEAL, E. Chemical and Physical Action at Surfaces1. Nature 117, 626–628 (1926). https://doi.org/10.1038/117626a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/117626a0