The Zeta potential is related to which property of colloids?

Solution

Chemistry ma’am · 4 steps

Zeta potential is the voltage set up by the charged layer around a sol particle, so think charge.

1. Double layer. A colloidal particle adsorbs ions of one kind and becomes charged. Ions of the opposite charge from the medium crowd around it, forming a fixed layer and a diffuse layer: the Helmholtz electrical double layer.
2. What zeta measures. The potential difference between the fixed layer and the diffuse layer is the zeta potential, also called the electrokinetic potential. It exists only because the particle surface carries a charge.
3. Why it matters. A larger zeta potential means stronger repulsion between like-charged particles, so the sol resists coagulation. It is also what makes the particles move in electrophoresis.
4. So. Zeta potential is tied to the charge on the surface of colloidal particles, option (c).

The idea to keep. Zeta potential is a charge property: it comes from the double layer and it decides how stable a sol is. Optical effects and random motion have nothing to do with it.

Answer from the NTA final answer key. Solution by PrepWiser.