Summary:
- The surface tension of a liquid is a measure of the elastic force in the liquid’s surface.
- Liquids that have strong intermolecular forces, like the hydrogen bonding in water, exhibit the greatest surface tension.
- Surface tension allows objects that are denser than water, such as the paper clip shown in B in Figure below, to float on its surface.
- It is also responsible for the beading up of water droplets on a freshly waxed car because there are no attractions between the polar water molecules and the nonpolar wax.