Micelle Self-Assembly — Critical Micelle Concentration

Surfactant concentration

Total surfactant 0.50× CMC

Free monomer concentration vs. total surfactant added — rises linearly, then plateaus at the CMC

Free monomers

–

Micelles

–

Free monomer conc.

–

Oil solubilized

0 / 0

Oil droplet test

Drag the slider above the CMC first, then drop a droplet to see it pulled into a micelle's hydrophobic core.

How it works

Each surfactant molecule is drawn as a dumbbell: a hydrophilic head (blue sphere) bonded to a hydrophobic tail (amber rod). Sliding the total-concentration control adds molecules to the water box. Below the CMC every molecule stays a free monomer, drifting independently. Once the total crosses 1.0× CMC, the free-monomer count stops rising — it is pinned — and every additional molecule instead self-assembles into a spherical micelle, tails clustered inward away from water, heads facing outward into it.

[free monomer] ≈ min(C_total, CMC)
excess = max(C_total − CMC, 0)  →  micelles

Total surfactant slider — total amount of surfactant added to the water, in multiples of the CMC.
Chart — plots the classic CMC break: free-monomer concentration rises 1:1 with total surfactant, then flattens exactly at the CMC.
Oil droplet — drop one in below the CMC and it just sits, undissolved, at the bottom of the box. Drop one in above the CMC and a nearby micelle's hydrophobic core captures and solubilizes it — the same mechanism that lets soap lift grease into water.

Hydrophilic head Hydrophobic tail Oil droplet Solubilized core

⚠ Couldn't load the 3D engineThree.js failed to load from the CDN. Check your connection and reload.