What are Surfactants and Why It is Important for Cleaning?

02 Feb.,2024

 

Now, when the surfactant molecule enters the water, the hydrophilic head wants to stay dissolved, but the hydrophobic tail wants to stay out of the water. Therefore, the head stays submerged in water, whereas the tail stays out of it. Because the head has positive and negative charges, it is attracted by other molecules, but the tail is repelled by water. These forces cancel out each other. 

You might be asking, “so, how does it reduce the tension on the surface?” Firstly, as the number of surfactant molecules increases, it occupies more area on the surface. The density of the water molecules decreases—the lesser the water molecules on the surface, the lesser the tension. 

The second thing to consider is that the head attracts the water molecules on the surface, which reduces the downward pull of the experience from the molecules underneath. The tail prevents the surfactant molecule itself from going deep. This reduces the surface tension, and the tail prevails in gathering impurities right from the center of the bulk.

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