Suspensions – Properties of a Suspension

Suspensions are a heterogeneous mixture where the two or more substances where the size of the particles are around 1 to 1000 nm. Have you ever thought about why a painter painting a picture always mixes two or more than two colours? This happens because the paint is almost like suspension. The size of the particles is greater than 5 x 10-7 m, which means that particles are easily visible through the naked eyes. 

This article talks about the properties of a suspension. You will find brief information on the concept of mixtures in chemistry, a thorough explanation of suspension, properties of a suspension, and so on. Before we dive directly into the properties of a suspension, it is essential to study mixtures and suspensions in brief. 

Concept of mixtures 

In chemistry, the mixture is a fundamental term that can be described as when two or more two different compounds or elements are mixed with each other without any chemical change. The substance which is formed during this procedure is termed the mixture. Majorly there are two types of mixtures. These include –

• Homogeneous mixtures 

Homogeneous mixtures are often described as the type of mixture where different substances mixed together are distributed uniformly throughout the mixture. True solutions are categorised as homogeneous mixtures.

• Heterogeneous mixtures 

Another type of mixture is heterogeneous mixtures in which different substances or components are mixed together whose particles are clearly visible through the naked eyes. Unlike homogeneous mixtures, the particles are not distributed uniformly in heterogeneous mixtures. They can be further categorised as: Suspensions and Colloids.

Introduction to Suspensions 

These are the types of mixture with the most significant size of particles. In a suspension, the size of the particle is more than 1000nm. Here the particles in the solution are easily visible through naked eyes. The solvent particle ultimately settles down in the suspension after a vigorous stirring. The mixture of soil and water is the best example of a suspension mixture. The Brownian and Tyndall effects in the suspension mixture are observed effectively and easily.

Suppose we take a beaker full of water with some amount of mud into it. The mixture will be known as the heterogeneous mixture. The components of this mixture can be identified easily. After some time, you will notice that the mud has completely settled down in the water due to gravity. The particles present in the suspension are much larger than that of a solution. Some common examples of suspensions are water-based paint, water and mud, chalk and water, lemonade, and so on. 

Properties of Suspensions 

Based on the nature of suspensions, there are different properties of it. Here are some of them: 

• The suspension is a heterogeneous mixture. 
• Since the size of the constituent particle is larger than the size of 100mm in diameter, it is visible through the naked eyes. 
• The suspension particles are pretty large. 
• If the particles of suspensions are untouched, they tend to settle down—for
•  for example, the mixture of sand and water. 
• The suspension particles cannot pass through the filter paper. Therefore it is separated by the process of filtration. 
• The suspension particles show the Tyndall effect. 

Examples of Suspensions 

Here are some other popular examples of suspensions – 

• Slaked lime used for whitewashing 
• Milk of magnesia 
• Muddy water. 
• Sand particles submerged in water. 
• Water-based paint. 
• Honey mustard dressing or other salad dressing.

Let’s discuss the other two parts of the homogeneous mixture 

• Solutions

The size of these particles is less than 2 x 10-9 m, which means these are so small that they are not visible through naked eyes. Also, it’s hard to differentiate between the thing being dissolved called the solute and the thing that dissolves the solute called the solvent.

• Colloids

Colloids are the heterogeneous mixture of different particles with a non-soluble tendency ratio that is dispersed in variable phases. The colloid particles are microscopic and cannot be observed without an electron microscope. The colloid has a wide range of differential properties where the behaviour change is observed with the dispersion medium. 

Difference Between Homogeneous Mixtures and Heterogeneous Mixtures 

Here’s a quick difference between Homogeneous mixtures and Heterogeneous mixtures in a tabular form. Let’s have a look –

Conclusion 

With this, we come to an end to the properties of the suspension. Above, we discussed the suspension and various properties of the suspension. It is a heterogeneous mixture whose particle size is more than 1000 nm. Here the particles in the solution are easily visible through naked eyes. The solvent particle ultimately settles down in the suspension after a vigorous stirring.

In this article describing the properties of a suspension, we studied the concept of the suspension in length. We covered several other topics, such as a brief explanation of the matter, suspensions, properties of a suspension, and other related topics.