The CMC is an important characteristic of a surfactant.

Before reaching the CMC, the surface

tension changes strongly with the concentration of the surfactant. After reaching the CMC, the
surface tension remains relatively constant or changes with a lower slope. The value of the CMC for
a given dispersant in a given medium depends on temperature, pressure, and (sometimes strongly)
on the presence and concentration of other surface active substances and electrolytes. Micelles only
form above critical micelle temperature.
For example, the value of CMC for sodium dodecyl sulfate in water (no other additives or salts) at
25 C, atmospheric pressure, is 8x103 mol/L.[2]
The study of the aggregation of lipids (amphiphiles) is known as lipid polymorphism.

Upon introduction of surfactants (or any surface active materials) into the system, they will initially
partition into the interface, reducing the system free energy by:
1. lowering the energy of the interface (calculated as area times surface tension), and
2. removing the hydrophobic parts of the surfactant from contact with water.
Subsequently, when the surface coverage by the surfactants increases, the surface free energy
(surface tension) decreases and the surfactants start aggregating into micelles, thus again
decreasing the system's free energy by decreasing the contact area of hydrophobic parts of the
surfactant with water.[3] Upon reaching CMC, any further addition of surfactants will just increase the
number of micelles (in the ideal case).
There are several theoretical definitions of CMC. One well-known definition is that CMC is the total
concentration of surfactants under the conditions:[4]
if C = CMC, (d3F/dCt3) = 0
F = a[micelle] + b[monomer]: function of surfactant solution
Ct: total concentration
a, b: proportional constants
The CMC generally depends on the method of measuring the samples,
since a and b depend on the properties of the solution such
as conductance and photochemical characteristics. When the degree of aggregation
is monodisperse, then the CMC is not related to the method of measurement. On

the other hand, when the degree of aggregation ispolydisperse, then CMC is related
to both the method of measurement and the dispersion.
The common procedure to determine the CMC from experimental data is to look for
the intersection of two straight lines traced through plots of the measured property
versus the surfactant concentration. This visual data analysis method is highly
subjective and can lead to very different CMC values depending on the type of
representation, the quality of the data and the chosen interval around the CMC. [5] A
preferred method is the fit of the experimental data with a model of the measured
property. Fit functions for properties such as electrical conductivity, surface tension,
NMR chemical shifts, absorption, self-diffusion coefficients, fluorescence intensity
and mean translational diffusion coefficient of fluorescent dyes in surfactant
solutions have been presented.[6][7][8] These fit functions are based on a model for the
concentrations of monomeric and micellised surfactants in solution, which
establishes a well-defined analytical definition of the CMC, independent from the
technique.