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Write Brief Answer · Q20

Q.Write a note on electro-osmosis.

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Step 1. A colloidal sol, taken as a whole, is electrically neutral — even though its dispersed particles carry a definite surface charge, the surrounding dispersion medium carries an equal and opposite charge, so the two exactly balance overall.

Step 2. When an electric potential is applied across a sol and the dispersed particles are free to move, they migrate toward the electrode of opposite sign — this is electrophoresis, covered separately.

Step 3. But if the dispersed particles are experimentally PREVENTED from moving — for example, held back physically by a semipermeable membrane, as in the setup shown in the chapter's figure — the applied field cannot move the particles, so it instead acts on the surrounding dispersion medium, which is free to flow.

Step 4. Because the medium carries the opposite charge to the particles, the electric field drives the medium to move in the direction OPPOSITE to that in which the particles themselves would have migrated — this is exactly what is observed as a rise in liquid level on one side of the membrane and a fall on the other. …

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