SURFACE TENSION

Junaid Habib
 SURFACE TENSION/SURFACE ENERGY

It is the property of the liquid to remain in minimum surface area .

Liquid molecules tend to pull each other from the surface.
 WHY LIQUID DROPS ARE SPHERICAL?

Suppose you have a liquid drop of 50mg. It will have minimum surface area in
spherical shape. If you make a cube , a cylinder or a rectangle they all will have
surface area greater than the surface area of the sphere of same mass.
Due to this reason the liquid tends to be in spherical form. Because we know that smaller
the surface area lower will be the surface energy. Remember one thing that we are talking
about small liquid drop because large drop will have a affect of gravity on them.
 PROOF

• Talk water soap solution in a tub.

• mix it well.
• Now place a large hoop in it.
• Take a thread and knot its opposite ends.
• Place that knotted thread in the hoop in irregular form.
• Now you will observe that there will be a soap water solution film on the hoop
and the thread.
• With the help of a needle pierce the soap film inside the thread region.
• As the film inside the thread vanished it expands radially outward and takes the form of a
perfect circle.

Now the question is that why this happened?

We have that liquid tends to minimize its surface area, when initially we had both the hoop and
the thread in knotted form the soap was in continuous form inside the hoop.
But when the soap film inside the thread vanished the only soap film is inside the hoop and
outside the thread. Due to surface minimization property the fluid (soap film) will contracts
towards the hoop internal . Due to surface tension the thread takes up the form of a circle.
• https://youtu.be/e0fhh1830Kc