Spontaneous emulsification, and reactions overshooting equilibrium

Abstract

Spontaneous emulsification was discovered in 1878 by Johannes Gad (1878). He observed that when an oil containing fatty acid is placed quietly upon an alkaline solution with avoidance of stirring, streamers shoot out which at their ends disintegrate into minute droplets forming a milky emulsion. In the following year, Brücke (1879) confirmed Gad's numerous observations, showing that a higher concentration of alkali suppresses this motion, and instead gives rise to slowly swelling growths or “myelin forms”, familiar since 1852 in medical literature (see Adami and Aschoff 1906). The phenomenon of spontaneous emulsification appears to have been lost sight of during the past generation, apart from some observations recorded by Gurwitsch in connexion with petroleum technology.