Blood is an example of:

Question

Butter is an example of which type of colloid?

Answer 1

Compare blood with a glass of salt water and a glass of milk.

True solution: salt water stays perfectly clear with nothing floating in it, but blood clearly carries visible cells, so it does not behave like salt water.
Colloidal solution: milk carries fat and protein particles evenly spread through it without settling, and blood's plasma proteins and cells behave the same way, staying dispersed rather than separating out under ordinary conditions.
Saturated solution: this label is about a dissolved solute at its limit, which has nothing to do with the cells and proteins in blood.
Suspension: a suspension is like sand settling in water, but blood's cells do not settle out that fast or that completely, so it is not a simple suspension.

Blood behaves like the milk example, evenly dispersed and stable, so the correct answer is colloidal solution.

Answer 2

Apply one test to blood: does it stay clear, does it settle out completely under gravity, or does it stay evenly dispersed while scattering light?

True solution: a true solution passes the clarity test, staying perfectly transparent, but blood is opaque and visibly colored, failing this test.
Colloidal solution: blood passes the dispersion test: its proteins and cells stay spread through the plasma without dissolving down to molecular size or settling out under normal conditions.
Saturated solution: this test does not apply here at all, since saturation is about dissolved solute amount, not dispersed particles.
Suspension: a suspension fails the stability test, settling out fairly quickly, but blood's components stay dispersed far longer, so blood does not pass as a simple suspension.

Blood passes the colloid's dispersion test and fails the others, so the correct answer is colloidal solution.

Answer 3

Apply one test to blood: does it stay clear, does it settle out completely under gravity, or does it stay evenly dispersed while scattering light?

True solution: a true solution passes the clarity test, staying perfectly transparent, but blood is opaque and visibly colored, failing this test.
Colloidal solution: blood passes the dispersion test: its proteins and cells stay spread through the plasma without dissolving down to molecular size or settling out under normal conditions.
Saturated solution: this test does not apply here at all, since saturation is about dissolved solute amount, not dispersed particles.
Suspension: a suspension fails the stability test, settling out fairly quickly, but blood's components stay dispersed far longer, so blood does not pass as a simple suspension.

Blood passes the colloid's dispersion test and fails the others, so the correct answer is colloidal solution.

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