AbstractDescribing the disperse state is important for quality assurance, operational safety and the design and modelling of processes, especially in solids technology. Starting materials, intermediates and end products have to be characterized. Apart from representative sampling, preparation greatly influences the results of particle characterization. Very fine particles are normally agglomerated unless a highly dispersed state is stabilized by an additive. For a meaningful measurement, they must be preserved in this state or be definitely dispersed, depending on the type of problem.If the point of interest is the present disperse state with regard to the processing characteristics, e.g. for a filtration, the system should not be changed by the preparation method. If it is necessary to determine the property functions, i. e. the functional relationship between technological and physical properties, it is necessary in general to use a high dispersion energy or a long dispersing time in order to obtain the best achievable dispersion. The finer and more unstable a disperse phase is, the more the correct processing is important for the result. The problems of dispersion in gases and liquids are discussed with some examples.