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Surface tension is the tendency of liquid surfaces at rest to shrink into the minimum surface area possible. Surface tension is what allows objects with a higher density than water such as razor blades and insects (e.g. water striders) to float on a water surface without becoming even partly submerged.
Surface tension prevents the clip from submerging and the water from overflowing the glass edges. Temperature dependence of the surface tension of pure water. Water has an unusually high surface tension of 71.99 mN/m at 25 °C [64] which is caused by the strength of the hydrogen bonding between water molecules. [65] This allows insects to walk ...
Water potential is the potential energy of water per unit volume relative to pure water in reference conditions. Water potential quantifies the tendency of water to move from one area to another due to osmosis , gravity , mechanical pressure and matrix effects such as capillary action (which is caused by surface tension ).
A: The bottom of a concave meniscus. B: The top of a convex meniscus. In physics (particularly fluid statics), the meniscus (pl.: menisci, from Greek 'crescent') is the curve in the upper surface of a liquid close to the surface of the container or another object, produced by surface tension.
Surface living animals such as the water strider typically have hydrophobic feet covered in small hairs that prevent the feet from breaking the surface and becoming wet. Another insect known to walk on the water surface is the ant species Polyrhachis sokolova. The pygmy gecko (Coleodactylus amazonicus), due to its small size and hydrophobic ...
The high surface tension of water causes droplets to assume a nearly spherical shape, since a sphere has minimal surface area, and this shape therefore minimizes the solid-liquid surface energy. On contact of liquid with a surface, adhesion forces result in wetting of the surface.
Cohesion allows for surface tension, creating a "solid-like" state upon which light-weight or low-density materials can be placed. Mercury exhibits more cohesion than adhesion with glass Rain water flux from a canopy. Among the forces that govern drop formation: cohesion, surface tension, Van der Waals force, Plateau–Rayleigh instability
Surface tension forces will only begin to dominate gravitational forces below length scales on the order of the fluid's capillary length, which for water is about 2 millimeters. Because of this scaling, biomimetic devices that utilize surface tension will generally be very small, however there are many ways in which such devices could be used.