Surfactants, also known as wetting agents, lower the surface
tension of a liquid, allowing easier spreading.
The term surfactant is a compression of "Surface active agent".
Surfactants are usually organic compounds that contain both
hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups, and are thus semi-soluble in both organic
and aqueous solvents. Surfactants are also known as amphipathic
compounds, meaning that they would prefer to be in neither phase (water or organic).
For this reason they locate at the phase boundary between the organic and water
phase, or, if there is no more room there, they will congregate together and
form micelles. The concentration at which surfactants begin to form micelles
is known as the critical micelle concentration or CMC.
Surfactants are active in :
- detergents
- emulsifiers
- paints
- adhesives
- inks
- Alveoli
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