What is surface tension

<p>Surface tension is the energy a liquid contains that prevents its surface to be deformed by an object with a higher surface tension&sol;energy&period; The surface energy of water has as a side effect that it can form beads on surfaces with a very low surface energy or high repulsive force&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>What is surface tension<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>All molecules have a certain attraction towards each other&period; Molecules from water have a higher attraction towards each other then to the molecules of air&period; This means that water and air don&&num;8217&semi;t easily mix&period; Because the attraction between the water molecules is higher then the attraction with the air molecules&comma; the water stays together&period; Without adding any form of energy&comma; the air won&&num;8217&semi;t be able to cut through the water&comma; or mix with it&period; If an object with a very low surface energy comes into contact with the water&comma; it will push the molecules away&comma; rather then mixing with them&period; Some insects are able to &&num;8220&semi;walk&&num;8221&semi; on water&comma; which is thanks to the surface tension of the water&period; Their feet push the water away&comma; but the viscosity of the water creates enough resistance to carry the weight of the insect&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>How to change surface tension<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p><figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;1589" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-1589" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignright"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;detailingwiki&period;org&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;07&sol;a-paperclip-floating-on-water-thanks-to-surface-tension-300x235&period;jpg" alt&equals;"A paperclip floating on water thanks to Surface Tension" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"235" class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-1589" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-1589" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">A paperclip floating on water thanks to Surface Tension<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure><br &sol;>&NewLine;Surfactants are an easy way to change surface tension&period; For example&comma; if you very carefully put a sewing-needle on top of water&comma; it will float on top of the water&period; If a surfactant is added to the water&comma; the surface tension will drop&comma; and the needle will sink into the water&period; This surface tension also prevent water from being very good at mixing&sol;combining with other substances&comma; which also means that is very bad at cleaning &lpar;water would have to combine&sol;mix with contaminants and be able to carry them away&rpar;&period; Adding a surfactant will make it much easier for the water to combine with the contaminant and carry it away&period; A lowered surface tension will also allow the formation of foam&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Surface tension is also affected by temperature&comma; the lower the temperature of water&comma; the higher the surface tension&period; This basically means that colder water will form nicer round beads&period; Very hot water will create flatter&comma; less round beads&period; Rinsing your car with warm water will give you a false idea of beading&period; It might in fact be better then it looks&period; However&comma; warmer water has better cleaning properties&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Surface tension vs surface energy<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Surface tension only applies to liquids&comma; surface energy can also be applied to solids&comma; which makes it a more universal term&period; The two terms are equivalent&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Surface tension and beading&sol;sheeting<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Thanks to surface tension&comma; water can create nice round beads&comma; which is a loved side-effect by detailers&period; If the roll-off angle is right&comma; it will also aid greatly in the sheeting properties of a product&period; If the surface tension of water was much lower&comma; the beads would be more flat and the sheeting would be a lot less&period; This can be seen when you spread a water&sol;shampoo mixture over a surface&period; It is clear to see that water&sol;shampoo doesn&&num;8217&semi;t create the nice round beads that just water does&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The same happens with snowfoam&comma; if the surface energy is low enough&comma; the snowfoam would suffer from the low roll-off angle and the snowfoam will not clinge very well&period; A dirty unprotected car will keep its snowfoam blanker&comma; while a clean and well protected car will cause the snowfoam to break open and slide off&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;