Surface tension

From Glossary of Meteorology
(Redirected from Surface energy)



surface tension

(Also called surface energy, surface free energy, capillary forces, interfacial tension.) The tangential force acting at the interface between a liquid and air (or, more correctly, its own vapor) caused by the difference in attraction between liquid molecules and gaseous molecules.

Expressed either as a force per unit length of interface or as an energy per unit area of interface.


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