Interfacial tension is the surface energy per unit area of a fluid interface.

It has units of
force per length. For any fluid having contact with a solid surface, the contact between the
fluid and the solid has a certain value of interfacial tension associated with it. What
differentiates fluids from one another in terms of relative wettability are their values of
fluid/solid interfacial tension. The lower the solid-fluid interfacial tension, the lower the
surface energy and the higher the tendency for the fluid to wet that surface.