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Micelle Self-Assembly — Critical Micelle Concentration

Watch amphiphilic surfactant molecules drift as free monomers below the critical micelle concentration, then spontaneously self-assemble into spherical micelles above it — track the free-monomer plateau and solubilize an oil droplet.

Chemistry & Materials3DModerate60 FPS💧 Water

Surfactant molecules are amphiphiles — a water-loving head bonded to a water-avoiding tail. This simulator shows what happens as you keep adding surfactant to water: below a threshold concentration, the critical micelle concentration (CMC), every molecule remains a free, individually-dispersed monomer. Push the total concentration past the CMC and adding more surfactant no longer raises the free-monomer level — it plateaus — because the excess molecules spontaneously cluster into spherical micelles, tails packed inward away from water and heads facing outward. Drop an oil droplet into the box to see the practical payoff: only a solution above its CMC can pull the droplet into a micelle's hydrophobic core and solubilize it, which is exactly why soaps and detergents only start cleaning effectively once their concentration crosses the CMC.

⚙ Under the hood

Add amphiphilic surfactant molecules to a 3D water box: below the CMC they stay free monomers, but above it the free-monomer concentration plateaus and the excess spontaneously self-assembles into spherical micelles, tails inward, heads outward. Drop an oil droplet in to watch it get solubilized inside a micelle's hydrophobic core above the CMC — and just sit undissolved below it.

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3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install