colloid

Substance composed of extremely small particles of one material (the dispersed phase) evenly and stably distributed in another material (the continuous phase). The size of the dispersed particles (1-1,000 nanometres across) is less than that of particles in suspension but greater than that of molecules in true solution. Colloids involving gases include aerosols (dispersions of liquid or solid particles in a gas, as in fog or smoke) and foams (dispersions of gases in liquids).

Those involving liquids include emulsions (in which both the dispersed and the continuous phases are liquids) and sols (solid particles dispersed in a liquid). Sols in which both phases contribute to a molecular three-dimensional network have a jellylike form and are known as gels; gelatin, starch ‘solution’, and silica gel are common examples.

Steel is a solid colloid.

Milk is a natural emulsion of liquid fat in a watery liquid; synthetic emulsions such as some paints and cosmetic lotions have chemical emulsifying agents to stabilize the colloid and stop the two phases from separating out. Colloids were first studied thoroughly by the British chemist Thomas Graham, who defined them as substances that will not diffuse through a semipermeable membrane (as opposed to what he termed crystalloids, solutions of inorganic salts, which will diffuse through).