surface tension
the elasticlike force existing in the surface of a body, especially a liquid, tending to minimize the area of the surface, caused by asymmetries in the intermolecular forces between surface molecules.
Origin of surface tension
1Words Nearby surface tension
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use surface tension in a sentence
The insect may use a small air bubble to pin its belly to the underside of the water’s surface, but just how it steps without breaking the water’s surface tension remains a mystery for now.
Here are 7 incredible things we learned this year that animals can do | Erika Engelhaupt | December 20, 2021 | Science NewsInstead of the nylon or polyester typically found in hard shells, the Odin Infinity is made with polypropylene, a polymer that has a low surface tension and so sheds precipitation without any treatment.
While surface tension of the water, fluid mechanics, and surfboard buoyancy might factor into the equation, the Coandӑ effect is the key to noseriding.
Use physics to pull off gravity-defying surfing moves | Noah Lederman | October 5, 2021 | Popular-ScienceThis will add more surface tension and help your bread rise evenly.
Remy From ‘Ratatouille’ Taught Me to Never Settle for Boring Bread | Dayna Evans | September 30, 2021 | EaterHow the insects were able to sense the change in the water’s surface tension is unknown.
Fire ants build little syphons out of sand to feed without drowning | Aayushi Pratap | October 20, 2020 | Science News
The fact that her show is called “surface tension” makes clear that she understands and intends this reference.
It depends upon the fact that bile acids lower surface tension.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell ToddHis feet rested on nothing—and yet there was some sort of tension under him—like the surface tension of water.
The 4-D Doodler | Graph WaldeyerOn the moon, the surface tension of the ink was exactly the same as on earth, but the gravity was five-sixths less.
Operation: Outer Space | William Fitzgerald JenkinsThe modern physicist explains the phenomenon as due to surface-tension of the fluid.
A History of Science, Volume 2(of 5) | Henry Smith WilliamsThis may be a tropism (stereotropism) or it may be a mere surface tension phenomenon.
The Organism as a Whole | Jacques Loeb
British Dictionary definitions for surface tension
a property of liquids caused by intermolecular forces near the surface leading to the apparent presence of a surface film and to capillarity, etc
a measure of this property expressed as the force acting normal to one side of a line of unit length on the surface: measured in newtons per metre: Symbol: T, γ, σ
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for surface tension
[ sûr′fəs ]
A property of liquids such that their surfaces behave like a thin, elastic film. Surface tension is an effect of intermolecular attraction, in which molecules at or near the surface undergo a net attraction to the rest of the fluid, while molecules not near the surface are attracted to other molecules equally in all directions and undergo no net attraction. Because of surface tension, the surface of a liquid can support light objects (such as water beetles on the surface of a pond). Surface tension is responsible for the spherical shape of drops of liquid; spheres minimize the surface area of the drop and thus minimize surface tension. See also capillary action meniscus.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for surface tension
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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