Talk:Surfactant

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What about surfactants in the lungs? Huh?

English please!

What the heck is "Alkyl poly(ethylene oxide)" and "Alkyl polyglucosides"? A product I purchased instructs me to mix it with some "nonionic surfactant" so do I just pop over to the grocery store and ask what isle has Alkyl polyglucosides or what?

Thanks for remembering that an encyclopedia exists to explain words and phrases to the uninitiated.

Well this is actually a really well written article. The author can't help the fact that the chemical names "Alkyl poly(ethylene oxide)" and "Alkyl polyglucosides" are what they are. The author just cited them as examples and certainly do not represent the entire spectrum of surfactants that exist on the market today.

And no, for the most part you can't go down to the local grocery store and just pick up a surfactant. You could get some dish soap (ie Dawn) and it will most likely have SLS in it but it will also have a bunch of other crap in it (eg fragrances) that you may or may not wish to include in your formulation. I suggest you do a little more research on this topic and quit badgering the author simply because you're too ignorant to know what is going on.

Contents

[edit] Needs detergents

I think it would be helpful if someone explained surfactants with a diagram. I feel that this article is really lacking without a picture, so someone please add one...

It would also be helpful if it explained how surfactants can remove oil and dirt.

Umm.. looks just fine to me. If you need it dumbed down, try looking up some of the terms you are having trouble with. Like "chemistry" and/or "ionic interactions".

what else?

Is ethylene oxide a surfactant? EtO has only 2 carbons, a very short chain and don't seems to be hydrofobic. What's source?

The article doesn't say ethylene oxide it says alkyl poly(ethylene oxide)... Maybe the article was changed to reflect this but alkyl poly(ethylene oxide) is a surfactant.

alkyl is a long chain hydrocarbon [-CH2-CH2-] and therefore hydrophobic

polyethylene oxide is [-CH2-CH2-O-] and therefore hydrophilic

[edit] Emulsifier/Surfactant

Emulsifier goes to Emulsion, where it is treated as interchangeable with Surfactant. This is a little confusing. Should Emulsifier be separated, then combined with Surfactant? ENeville 23:18, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

"Surfactant" seems to describe more industrial applications while "emulsifier" describes more food-related applications. Also, emulsifier is a little bit more specific, as it implies only the intent of mixing two things together, while "surfactant" as described here can also be used to reduce surface tension. But speaking chemically, surfactants=emulsifiers. Perhaps the articles should be merged and "emulsifiers" can be a subsection of the different applications of "surfactants"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.27.121.188 (talk) 11:59, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] References

Good article. Can somebody add some references?EAS 06:36, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] A tri ethanolamide?

Cocoyl TEA exists as a stable substance? If so, it should be listed as cationic, not nonionic. 216.179.3.141 18:12, 21 April 2007 (UTC) robgood@bestweb.net

[edit] Article Title

Shouldn't this article be moved to Surface active agent, since 'surfactant' is really an abbreviation for the that? FerralMoonrender (MyTalk • MyContribs • EmailMe) 03:54, 29 October 2007 (UTC)