Review

There is an optional quiz at the end of this review. It is not graded and does not count toward your overall score for the course.

This section has shown that the fundamental concepts of colloid science identified as most appropriate for this work — particle attraction and repulsion, surfactant adsorption, aggregation and sedimentation — allowed for highly efficient and rational investigation.

The efficiency of the use of resources for this case study was very high compared to what might be expected if the objective had been approached in a more typical trial-and-error manner. The work required approximately 50 hours for one employee spread over a period of about 4 weeks. This included additional activities not presented in this mini course.

In additional to the main objective, there was a second objective that the study met successfully. The scientist responsible for the work had been employed specifically for their expertise in colloid science but local management did not see the value in applying the concepts. Instead, it continued with the inefficient and wasteful hit-and-miss approach. The success of this case study proved to be important in increasing awareness of and confidence in the power of applying some of the fundamental concepts of colloid science.