Creams Lab Report

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DISCUSSION In this experiment, liquid paraffin, soft paraffin, cetostearyl alcohol, emulsifying wax BP and distilled water are used to make creams with different proportion of water and oil phases. Liquid paraffin and soft paraffin are act as emollient and softening agent. Cetostearyl alcohol is an emulsion stabilizer, which also acts as an opacifying agent, surfactant (foam booster) and viscosity increasing agent. Emulsifying wax is also an emulsifying agent which make water and oil bind together into a smooth emulsion. The polar part of the emulsifying agent interacts with water phase while the non-polar part of the emulsifying agent interacts with the oil phase. It is also an effective thickener and helps form extremely stable emulsions…show more content…
F1,F2,F4,F5 and F6 are oil in water type of emulsion where oil phase is the dispersed phase and water phase is the continuous phase. F3 is considered as water in oil type of emulsion where the water phase is the dispersed phase and oil phase is the continuous phase. All 6 creams appeared to be white in colour after homogenisation. The smoothness of the creams is tested and all the creams are having a smooth texture. It is due to the addition of liquid paraffin to every cream preparation, as liquid paraffin serves as skin emollient and softening agent. Soft paraffin added to F4 also functions as emollient and it leads to the smooth texture of the cream. F1 and F2 form 2 layers whereas F3, F4, F5 and F6 remain as 1 layer after storage. F1 and F2 separated as 2 layers because the ratio of oil to water is very low and insufficient emulsifying agent used. Due to the difference in density of water phase and the oil phase, the emulsions tend to separate into 2 layers and oil phase rises to the top of the emulsion. All 6 creams undergo creaming process because oil droplets float to the top of emulsions and form a concentrated layer. Creaming is a result of flocculation, which the oil globules remain separated and it occurs for the reason that…show more content…
According to Stoke’s law, the smaller the size of globules, the greater the stability of the emulsion. This is because of the smaller the globule size, the greater the time they take to settle, hence the terminal settling velocity is lower. On the other hand, larger globules size leads to an increased rate of creaming. The distribution of globule size is a factor affecting the viscosity of continuous phase, and viscosity is a factor affecting the stability of an emulsion. When globule size is smaller, the viscosity of emulsion will be higher because small-sized globules settle slower. The increased viscosity decreases the rate of cracking by decreasing the terminal settling velocity of dispersed globules. Hence the emulsion will be more stable. Of all 6 creams, F4 has the largest size of oil droplets and hence it shows the highest instability among all creams. F5 and F6 have the second largest size of oil droplets in the emulsions and their continuous phases are thick due to the addition of cetostearyl alcohol which is acting as viscosity increasing agent. F1 and F2 are having the smallest size of globules in emulsions. In F3, water droplets are observed as the dispersed phase which is surrounding the oil

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