Question

What happens when a strong beam of light is passed through a colloidal solution?

Answer 1

Colloids

• Colloids are type of mixtures which contain 1-1000 nm sized particles dispersed in a medium.
• The particles dispersed are called dispersed phase and the medium in which particles are dispersed is called the dispersion medium.
• Depending upon the states of dispersed phase and dispersion medium different types of colloids are present like emulsion, sol, aerosol etc.
• When a beam of light is passed through a colloidal solution, lightly gets scattered by the particles dispersed in the medium, hence the path of light becomes visible. This phenomenon is called Tyndall effect.