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Topic: Is there a good way of guessing if something is a colloid?  (Read 887 times)

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Offline bert

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Is there a good way of guessing if something is a colloid?
« on: September 08, 2019, 11:58:46 AM »
Sweat and apple juice(I think) are homogenous mixtures. Milk is not, because of its microscopic, insoluble fat. What you can see is basically useless then, so how can I tell if something is a homogenous or heterogenous mixture without a microscope? Is milk just that one exception I should know about?

Offline Corribus

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Re: Is there a good way of guessing if something is a colloid?
« Reply #1 on: September 09, 2019, 08:23:30 AM »
For one thing, clarity will help determine the particulate content of a fluid. This doesn't help as much for nanoscale particles, which do not scatter light as well as bigger particles do. So, while apple just may be clear and therefore superficially "homogeneous", there may be (probably are) still particulates in it that you just can't see.

In scientific analysis, "eyes" aren't the greatest instruments. There are better analytical methods to determine particulate content, like DLS.
What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were like a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?  - Richard P. Feynman

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