Static and dynamic light scattering in nonionic critical micellar solutions of water–pentaethylene glycoln-dodecylether

Extensive sets of measurements of the shear viscosity, the scattered light intensity, and the relaxation rate of the order-parameter fluctuations lead us to reexamine the static and dynamic critical behaviors of binary solutions of pentaethylene glycol n-dodecylether (${\mathrm{C}}_{12}$ ${\mathit{E}}_5$) and water. The scattered intensity, the scattered field correlation function, and the relaxation rate of the order parameter show systematic deviations from the behavior usually observed for simple or molecular binary fluids. A modified version of the Sorensen et al. [Phys. Rev. A 13, 1593 (1976)] dynamical droplet model that assumes that close to the critical point the critical clusters can be treated much like percolating aggregates having a fractal dimension ${\mathit{d}}_{\mathit{f}}$=2.49 and an associated polydispersity exponent τ=2.21 and which includes the finite size of the micelles, very well accounts for all our experimental results.