Common experience tells us that oil and water do not mix. Yet, it turns out that they can mix when oil is dispersed as small droplets in water. This strange behavior has long vexed scientists because there is no explanation for it.
A team from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and Italy’s International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) scientists have studied this question using novel optical technology and discovered the mechanism by which these two neutral and immiscible compounds can in fact mix together and form emulsions. The answer lies in the electrical charge distribution at the interface.
