Talk:Microemulsion

Gibbs phase diagrams

Hi Guys,

I came to this page about 6 months back and edited, what I thought was a good article. It appears to have changed significantly and my changes have gone. Now, I am very happy to accept editing and debate, but deleting of any contribution without consultation is a shock.

Anyway, the current article is still good. I have added my two-penneth regarding practical application - and the misleading issues of Gibbs phase diagrams. (Just because there are three separate phases in a tube, doesn't mean there are three separate isomorphic environments.) I did this because, when I did my PhD, these phase diagrams were displayed a lot to give try to give an understanding of the component ratios in microemulsions, of how to find an appropriate formulation. However, it became clear to me that they were becoming commonly used to "pad out" lectures with no real additional value being brought to the party. They had the effect of "blinding people with science". Gibbs would not have approved.

We are now 30 years on, so my little contribution is positively archaic, but I hope that you can add more practical applications that will make the understanding of this area much more interesting.

For example, what is the pH in a w/o microemulsion? I remember putting a pH electrode in one solution. It appears to be the same as the internal water. So what if the droplets, on average, contain less than one proton per droplet? Are there less droplets of higher pH? Presumably, this must be true. So what does that mean for any pH specific reactions? (Have a think, it's fun.)

Neil Perrins (PhD - yes, I made it) Username: nperrins