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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.
This image is a derivative work of the following images: File:SurftensionDiagram.png licensed with PD-user-w . 2007-09-01T14:57:35Z Karlhahn 350x192 (2130 Bytes) {{Information |Description=Author: Karl Hahn Subject: Illustrative diagram of surface tension forces on a needle floating on the surface of water (shown in crossection).
Drop of water bouncing on a water surface subject to vibrations Surface tension prevents water droplet from being cut by a hydrophobic knife. Liquid forms drops because it exhibits surface tension. [1] A simple way to form a drop is to allow liquid to flow slowly from the lower end of a vertical tube of small diameter.
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.
If we take water as a reference fluid, = If the surface tension of water is known which is 72 dyne/cm, we can calculate the surface tension of the specific fluid from the equation. The more drops we weigh, the more precisely we can calculate the surface tension from the equation. [3] The stalagmometer must be kept clean for meaningful readings.
Surface tension originates from cohesive forces between molecules, and in the bulk of the fluid, molecules experience attractive forces from all directions. The surface of a fluid is curved because exposed molecules on the surface have fewer neighboring interactions, resulting in a net force that contracts the surface.
The surface tension is a linear function of the temperature. This assumption is approximately fulfilled for most known liquids. When plotting the surface tension versus the temperature a fairly straight line can be seen which has a surface tension of zero at the critical temperature.
The "wettability" of a fluid depends on its surface tension, the forces that drive a fluid's tendency to take up the minimal amount of space possible, and it is determined by the contact angle of the fluid. [1] A fluid's "wettability" can be controlled by varying capillary surface properties (e.g. roughness, hydrophilicity