Nathan 11A/17

PHYSICS
How can water striders walk on water naturally.

ABSTRACT
Surface tension is the property of the surface of a liquid that allows it to resist an external force,
due to the cohesive nature of its molecules. Surface tension in water might be good at performing
tricks, such as being able to float a paper clip on its surface, but surface tension performs many
more duties that are vitally important to the environment and people. Find out all about surface
tension and water here. And in here a small experiment will be conducted to measure the surface
tension of water by calculating the diameter of rings.

INTRODUCTION
What, exactly, is surface tension?
Surface tension is defined as the amount of energy required to increase the surface area of a
liquid by a unit amount. So the units can be expressed in joules per square meter (J/m2). You can
also think of it as a force per unit length, pulling on an object. In this case, the units would be in
newtons/meter (N/m). Since the forces are so small, you often see surface tension expressed in
millinewtons per meter (mN/m — 1 mN is 1/1000 N). Examples of them are: water striders
walking on water, soap bubbles, or perhaps floating needles.

LITERATURE
Surface Tension: "The property of the surface of a liquid that allows it to resist an external
force, due to the cohesive nature of its molecules."
The cohesive forces between liquid molecules are responsible for the phenomenon known as
surface tension. The molecules at the surface of a glass of water do not have other water
molecules on all sides of them and consequently they cohere more strongly to those directly
associated with them (in this case, next to and below them, but not above). It is not really true
that a "skin" forms on the water surface; the stronger cohesion between the water molecules as
opposed to the attraction of the water molecules to the air makes it more difficult to move an
object through the surface than to move it when it is completely submersed. (Source: GSU).
The cohesive forces between molecules in a liquid are shared with all neighboring molecules.
Those on the surface have no neighboring molecules above and, thus, exhibit stronger attractive
forces upon their nearest neighbors on and below the surface. Surface tension could be defined as
the property of the surface of a liquid that allows it to resist an external force, due to the cohesive
nature of the water molecules.
Water molecules want to cling to each other. At the surface, however, there are fewer water
molecules to cling to since there is air above (thus, no water molecules). This results in a
stronger bond between those molecules that actually do come in contact with one another, and a
layer of strongly bonded water (see diagram). This surface layer (held together by surface
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tension) creates a considerable barrier between the atmosphere and the water. In fact, other than
mercury, water has the greatest surface tension of any liquid. (Source: Lakes of Missouri)
Within a body of a liquid, a molecule will not experience a net force because the forces by the
neighboring molecules all cancel out (diagram). However for a molecule on the surface of the
liquid, there will be a net inward force since there will be no attractive force acting from above.
This inward net force causes the molecules on the surface to contract and to resist being stretched
or broken. Thus the surface is under tension, which is probably where the name "surface tension"
came from. (Source: Woodrow Wilson Foundation).
Due to the surface tension, small objects will "float" on the surface of a fluid, as long as the
object cannot break through and separate the top layer of water molecules. When an object is on
the surface of the fluid, the surface under tension will behave like an elastic membrane.
Surface tension in water owes to the fact that water molecules attract one another, as each
molecule forms a bond with the ones in its vicinity. At the surface, though, the outmost layer of
molecules, has fewer molecules to cling to, therefore compensates by establishing stronger bonds
with its neighbors, this leading to the formation of the surface tension. 

MATERIAL AND PROCEDURE

Materials: 1. Vernier caliper 5. Holder
2. Dynamometer 0,1N 6. a ring
3. Beaker glass 7. water 500ml
4. Laboratory stand
Steps: 1. Find diameter of ring using vernier caliper
2. Set up the equpipments needed for the experiment according to the figure 1 below.
3. Put the water in the glass beaker
4. Adjust the height of the laboratory stand so that the metal ring is completely covered
in the water.
5. Measure the weight of metal ring before it goes into the water and right after it
leaves the water.
6. We calculate the surface tension of the water using the equation:

Figure 1
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DATA COLLECTION
Total diameter of ring

No. Small Medium Large

ring(10^-2m) ring(10^-2m) ring(10^-2m)
1. 3.062 5.026 5.874
2. 3.072 5.036 5.876
3. 3.090 5.030 5.884
4. 3.080 5.030 5.878
5. 3.084 5.026 5.880

Measurement of force

No Small ring Medium ring Large ring

W Ft W Ft W Ft
(10^-3N) (10^-3N) (10^-3N) (10^-3N) (10^-3N) (10^-3N)
1 22 28 30 40 53 62
2 23 29 31 40 53 63
3 23 27 31 38 53 61
4 23 28 31 39 52 62
5 23 28 31 39 53 62

Volume of water = 500ml

CALCULATION : Average coefficient of tension forces = gamma water= (0.05525 ± 0.00274)N/m

CONCLUSION