Why do things stick to glass?
The short answer is that glass–an amorphous compound containing primarily silicon and oxygen–tends to form something known as silanol on its surface. They form hydrogen bonds with liquid water, causing it to adhere to the surface of the glass very strongly.
Why does water wet glass and mercury doesn t?
When liquid water is confined in a tube, its surface (meniscus) has a concave shape because water wets the surface and creeps up the side. Mercury does not wet glass – the cohesive forces within the drops are stronger than the adhesive forces between the drops and glass.
Does alcohol wet glass?
Mercury does not wet glass but alcohol because of its concave meniscus tends to cling to the walls of stem of the thermometer. Mercury is not easily vaporized whereas alcohol is very easily vaporized even at low temperatures.
Why is water attracted to glass?
The water molecules are more strongly attracted to the glass than they are to other water molecules (because glass molecules are even more polar than water molecules). This is because the water molecules are more strongly attracted to the sides of the tube than to each other.
Does pressure decrease surface tension?
As for pressure, surface tension is relatively unaffected by pressure changes until reaching high pressures as would be found in enhanced oil recovery and supercritical fluids. The increasing pressure causes dissolution of gas in the liquid, thereby decreasing the surface tension.
How does surface tension apply to the real world?
The effects of surface tension are of central importance in many everyday phenomena: it causes small droplets of rain to stick to your windows, creates bubbles when you add detergent in your sink, and propels water-striding insects on the surface of ponds.
Can you break the surface tension of water?
Nope. The whole ‘breaking the surface tension’ is a myth. You would splat no matter how many bullets you had. Unless you have a grenade launcher capable of creating vast amounts of gas bubbles in water under you.
What can break the surface tension of water?
Surfactants may act as detergents, wetting agents, emulsifiers, foaming agents, and dispersants. If there is any oil or oily compounds on the free surface of the water, then surface tension will be reduced. If you mix something to the water, then the surface tension will be changed.
Why do divers throw rocks?
The only reason you should ever throw rocks right before you are jumping into the water while cliff diving is to break the surface tension of the water. Lake water can easily become too calm to jump in, causing pain when you hit the water, while river and ocean water will usually not have as much surface tension.
How high is safe to cliff jump?
As an extreme sport, cliff diving is considered one of the most dangerous. Although professionals dive from heights of up to 148 feet in worldwide competitions organized by the World High Diving Federation, they undergo years of training, and even they sustain injuries from time to time.
Does throwing rocks break water tension?
A high fall over water can be survived by throwing a hammer ahead of oneself and breaking the surface tension. Dropping a hammer in front of you may break the surface tension, but it will not save your life because water is still too viscous to move out of the way quickly.
What is the highest free fall into water?
1. The highest dive. On August 4, 2015 the Swiss diver of Brazilian descent, Lazaro “Laso” Schaller set the world record for diving from the platform, diving from 58.8m (higher than the Tower of Pisa, which measures “only” 56.71 m) and exceeding a speed of 120 km/h at his entry into the water.