Liquid-gas and liquid-liquid interfaces 103
substrate) and temperature play an important part in determining the
nature of the film. Monolayers can be roughly classified as:
- Condensed (solid) films, in which the molecules are closely packed
and steeply orientated towards the surface. - Films which are still coherent but occupy a much larger area than
condensed films. They have no real three-dimensional equivalent,
since they act as highly compressible liquids. A number of distinct
types of these expanded films have been recognised^21 , the most
important being the liquid-expanded state, but these will not be
considered in detail. - Gaseous or vapour films, in which the molecules are separate and
move about the surface independently, the surface pressure being
exerted on the barriers containing the film by a series of collisions.
Gaseous films
The principal requirements for an ideal gaseous film are that the
constituent molecules must be of negligible size with no lateral
adhesion between them. Such a film would obey an ideal two-
dimensional gas equation, 7r/4 = kT, i.e. the IT- A curve would be a
rectangular hyperbola. This ideal state of affairs is, of course,
unrealisable but is approximated to by a number of insoluble films,
especially at high areas and low surface pressures. Monolayers of
soluble material are normally gaseous. If a surfactant solution is
sufficiently dilute to allow solute-solute interactions at the surface to
be neglected, the lowering of surface tension will be approximately
linear with concentration - i.e.
y - y 0 - be (where b is a constant)
Therefore
TT ~ be
and dy/dc - -b
Substituting in the Gibbs equation
kT Ac