Surface Tension

Small objects, like leaves and insects, float on the top of water rather than being partially submerged in it. The object is completely on the surface, being held afloat by surface tension rather than Archimedes’ Principle.

Surface Tension is the surface force per unit length over which it acts:

Note that surface tension is not a force, but a force per unit length.

We can also analyze surface tension in terms of energy:

The surface tension can be regarded as the surface potential energy per unit area of surface.

Warning

This section is in progress. I’ll continue it later.