ABSTRACT
Ancient Egyptians are known to have spread very small amounts of oil (olive oil) over water while their ships were sailing into harbors; because small amounts of oil on the water surface were known to appreciably calm the waves thus assisting easy navigation into the harbors. It was later found that some lipid-like substances (almost insoluble in water) formed self-assembly monolayers (SAMs) (Figure 4.1) on water surfaces (Gaines, 1966; Chattoraj and Birdi, 1984; Birdi, 1989, 1999, 2002; Adamson and Gast, 1997).
