Title: colloidally stable
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - colloidally stable
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.C01176
Status: current

Definition
Particles which do not aggregate at a significant rate: the precise connotation depends on the type of aggregation under consideration. For example, a concentrated paint is called stable by some people because oil and pigment do not separate out at a measurable rate, and unstable by others because the pigment particles aggregate into a continuous network.

Related Terms
- network: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/NT07562
- stable: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/S05900
- unstable: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/U06569

Source
- PAC, 1972, 31, 577. 'Manual of Symbols and Terminology for Physicochemical Quantities and Units, Appendix II: Definitions, Terminology and Symbols in Colloid and Surface Chemistry' on page 609 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac197231040577)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/C01176/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/C01176/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/C01176/xml

Citation: Citation: 'colloidally stable' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.C01176
License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms.
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Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-06-07T05:37:05+00:00