Salt, Bubbles and Life: A study of ion specificity in colloid science

Colloid science is central to a wide range of modern technological and economic activity despite a fundamental weakness that prevents it from successfully predicting a wide range of phenomena. This weakness includes, but is not limited to, an inability to explain; the stability of protein solutions, the surface tension of electrolyte solutions, the role of buffer solutions and the self-assembly of surfactants in solution. It is known that the type of ions that make up the electrolyte in solution are very important, but detailed understanding is absent. This proposal describes a concerted and novel program to examine the influence of salt and salt mixtures in order to elucidate the ion specific interactions that are so crucially important.