A state of colloidal suspension in which the individual particles are separate from one another, this condition being maintained by the attraction of the particles for the dispersing medium (for example, hydration) or by the assumption of like electrical charges by the particles, thus resulting in their mutual repulsion, or both. It is generally possible to deflocculate a gel to such an extent that it loses its gel strength entirely, thus becoming a Newtonian fluid, in which case it is known as a sol. The relative contribution of hydration and electrostatic repulsion to the deflocculation of a suspension accounts in large measure for the wide variation in viscosities and gel strengths of suspensions partially flocculated by different means; as, e.g., a partial flocculation of drilling fluid by cement on one hand, and by salt water on the other. Some suspensions can be deflocculated repeatedly by mechanical agitation alone, thus giving a reversible gel-sol, sol-gel transformation known as thixotropy.