text: The effectiveness of a medium to adsorb to a particle is influenced by the relationship between the surfaces of both materials. There are multiple factors that affect the efficiency of adsorption in chemical, thermodynamic, and physical domains. These factors can range from surface energy and polarity to the shape, size, and roughness of the particle. In froth flotation, adsorption is a strong consequence of surface energy, since the small particles have a high surface area to size ratio, resulting in higher energy surfaces to form attractions with adsorbates. The air bubbles must selectively adhere to the desired minerals to elevate them to the surface of the slurry while wetting the other minerals and leaving them in the aqueous slurry medium.
  Particles that can be easily wetted by water are called hydrophilic, while particles that are not easily wetted by water are called hydrophobic. Hydrophobic particles have a tendency to form a separate phase in aqueous media. In froth flotation the effectiveness of an air bubble to adhere to a particle is based on how hydrophobic the particle is. Hydrophobic particles have an affinity to air bubbles, leading to adsorption. The bubble-particle combinations are elevated to the froth zone driven by buoyancy forces.
  The attachment of the bubbles to the particles is determined by the interfacial energies of between the solid, liquid, and vapor phases, as modeled by the Young/Dupre Equation. The interfacial energies can be based on the natural structure of the materials, or the addition of chemical treatments can improve energy compatibility.
  Collectors are the main additives used to improve particle surfaces. They function as surfactants to selectively isolate and aid adsorption between the particles of interest and bubbles rising through the slurry. Common collectors used in flotation are anionic sulfur ligands, which have a bifunctional structure with an ionic portion which shares attraction with metals, and a hydrophobic portion such as a long hydrocarbon tail. These collectors coat a particle's surface with a monolayer of non-polar substance to aid separation from the aqueous phase by decreasing the adsorbed particle solubility in water. The adsorbed ligands can form micelles around the particles and form small-particle colloids improving stability and phase separation further.