Surface Tension
My problem was to find out how to test or measure surface tension. I think the
reason of some of the force in surface tension is cohesion and gravity. Surface Tension is
the condition existing at the free surface of a liquid, resembling the properties of an
elastic skin under tension. The tension is the result of intermolecular forces exerting an
unbalanced inward pull on the individual surface molecules; this is reflected in the
considerable curvature at those edges where the liquid is in contact with the wall of a
vessel. Because of this property, certain insects can stand on the surface of water. A razor
blade can also be supported by the surface tension of water. The razor blade is not
floating: if pushed through the surface, it sinks through the water. More specifically, the
tension is the force per unit length of any straight line on the liquid surface that the
surface layers on the opposite sides of the line exert upon each other.
English: Water drop. Español: Gota de agua.
English: Surface tension: a clip floating in a gla...
Diagram showing difference in molecular neighbors ...The tendency of
any liquid surface is to become as small as possible as a result of this tension, as in the
case of mercury, which forms an almost round ball when a small quantity is placed on a
horizontal surface. The near-perfect spherical shape of a soap bubble, which is the result
of the distribution of tension on the thin film of soap, is another example of this force;
surface tension alone can support a needle placed horizontally on a water surface.
Surface tension depends mainly upon the forces attraction between the particles
within the given liquid and also upon the gas, solid, or liquid in contact with it.
The molecules in a drop of water, for example, attract each other weakly. Water
molecules well inside the drop may be thought...