Hydrophilic heads and hydrophobic tails spontaneously form micelles
Clusters: 0 | Free monomers: 0
Amphiphilic molecules have a hydrophilic head (blue) that likes water and a hydrophobic tail (orange) that avoids it. Above the critical micelle concentration (CMC), molecules spontaneously self-assemble into micelles with tails pointing inward. This 2D simulation uses a Lennard-Jones-like potential: tail-tail attraction drives clustering while head-water affinity keeps heads exposed.