What is a colloid?

Any study of physics and chemistry involves three states of matter - gas, liquid and solid. A “colloidal system” can be defined as one of these states finely dispersed in another. These colloids have special properties that are of great practical importance. There are various examples of colloidal systems that can be considered. The following table shows the classification of colloids and contains examples of each type.

Colloid systems usually have dimensions of less than 1 micron, which results in a very high surface-to-volume ratio. Therefore, surface chemistry plays a very important part in the study of colloidal systems.