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Surface tension is an important factor in the phenomenon of capillarity. Surface tension has the dimension of force per unit length, or of energy per unit area. [4] The two are equivalent, but when referring to energy per unit of area, it is common to use the term surface energy, which is a more general term in the sense that it applies also to ...
A classical torsion wire-based du Noüy ring tensiometer. The arrow on the left points to the ring itself. The most common correction factors include Zuidema–Waters correction factors (for liquids with low interfacial tension), Huh–Mason correction factors (which cover a wider range than Zuidema–Waters), and Harkins–Jordan correction factors (more precise than Huh–Mason, while still ...
If surface tension is high, there is a large free energy required to increase the surface area, so the surface will tend to contract and hold together like a rubber sheet. There are various factors affecting surface tension, one of which is that the composition of the surface may be different from the bulk.
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. There exists a pressure difference either side of this curvature, and when this balances out the pressure due to gravity, one can rearrange to find the capillary length.
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).
The surface tension gradient can be caused by concentration gradient or by a temperature gradient (surface tension is a function of temperature). In simple cases, the speed of the flow u ≈ Δ γ / μ {\displaystyle u\approx \Delta \gamma /\mu } , where Δ γ {\displaystyle \Delta \gamma } is the difference in surface tension and μ ...
Gecko climbing a glass surface. The ability of geckos – which can hang on a glass surface using only one toe – to climb on sheer surfaces has been for many years mainly attributed to the van der Waals forces between these surfaces and the spatulae, or microscopic projections, which cover the hair-like setae found on their footpads. [29] [30]
Whether it will come out of solution in the bulk of the solvent to form bubbles will depend on a number of factors. Something which reduces surface tension, or adsorbs gas molecules, or locally reduces solubility of the gas, or causes a local reduction in static pressure in a fluid may result in a bubble nucleation or growth.