Emulsion

Description

A stable, colloidal suspension of two or more immiscible liquids. Fine, microscopic droplets of one liquid are evenly dispersed within the second liquid. A third material, called an emulsifier, coats the droplets to keep them from coalescing and settling out. Examples of natural emulsions are Milk and Egg yolk. Examples of synthetic emulsions are many oil-in-water paint formulations, leather dressings, margarine, and aqueous polymer preparations.

Synonyms and Related Terms

emulsions; colloidal dispersion

Resources and Citations

• J.Stephenson, "Emulsion" The Dictionary of Art Vol. 10, Grove's Publishing, Inc., New York, 1996.

• R. J. Gettens, G.L. Stout, Painting Materials, A Short Encyclopaedia, Dover Publications, New York, 1966

• Ralph Mayer, A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques, Harper and Row Publishers, New York, 1969 (also 1945 printing)

• Theodore J. Reinhart, 'Glossary of Terms', Engineered Plastics, ASM International, 1988

• ASTM, "Standard Terminology Relating to Paint, Varnish, Lacquer and Related Products", Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Section 6, Paints, Related Coatings and Aromatics, ASTM, D16, 7-Jan, Jul-96

• Matt Roberts, Don Etherington, Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: a Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1982

• Richard S. Lewis, Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 10th ed., 1993

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998

• Art and Architecture Thesaurus Online, https://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/aat/, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 2000