Surface Tension by Capillary Rise Method &

Static Sessile drop method

Sreelakshmi

School of Physics, IISER

Abstract- In a liquid molecules on the surface experience a net

unbalanced force towards the interior of the liquid, henceforth
resulting in a stretching force on the surface, namely, surface
tension. When a capillary tube is kept in a beaker filled with
water, the small angle of contact of water combined with surface
tension causes it to rise up till its weight balances this force. By
noting the height of water rise and dimensions of the tube,
surface tension is calculated.

I. INTRODUCTION

T he Surface tension is the elastic tendency of a fluid surface

which makes it acquire the least surface area possible.
Capillarity, the rise or fall of liquids in small tubes or narrow
Fig 1: schematic representation of capillary rise

spaces, is the result of cohesion of water molecules and adhesion from the fig 1,
of those molecules to a solid material. The more narrow the tube,
the greater the rise of the liquid. Greater surface tension and volume of water column = volume of ABCDA + volume of
increased ratio of adhesion to cohesion also result in greater rise. CDEFC - (1/2) * volume of sphere
Surface tension has the dimension of force per unit length, or of
energy per unit area. The two are equivalent, but in general it is V = πr2h + πr2r − (1/2)(4/3)πr3V = πr2(h + r/3)
common to use the term surface energy, which is a more general at equilibrium,
term in the sense that it applies also to solids. The surface tension
is defined as the magnitude F of the force exerted tangential to ρV g = 2πrT cosθρ(πr2(h + r/3))g = 2πrT cosθ
the surface of a liquid divided by the length of the line over where (ρ)is the density of liquid.
which the force acts in order to maintain the liquid film.

Two capillary tubes of different radii were used for the

Capillarity is the combined effect of experiment. Beaker was filled with water on the support base and
cohesive and adhesive forces that cause liquids to rise in tubes of the tubes were immersed in water.Focus the travelling
very small diameter. microscope so that you can see the inverted (convex) meniscus of
Consider a capillary tube dipped in a beaker of water as in fig 1. water. Adjust the horizontal cross-wire to be tangential to the
The pressure above and below water level in a beaker is the same convex liquid surface. Note down the readings on the vertical
(atmospheric pressure). but the peculiar shape of liquid meniscus scale(say R1).Turn the microscope screws in horizontal direction
inside the tube causes the pressure below the meniscus to be to view the next capillary tube and follow the above step to note
slightly less than that is above due to surface tension. To the position of liquid surface above the tube(say R2). Thus the
maintain same pressure on same height of the liquid, the liquid height of the liquid was calculated from the difference of the two
move sup till the weight of the column of liquid balances the readings noted above, e.g. (R1-R2) Now to find the radius of the
force due to pressure difference. tube, the height of the support base was lowered and the beaker
as removed. Carefully rotate the glass plate with the tubes so that
the immersed lower ends face towards you. Focus one of the
tubes using travelling microscope to clearly see the inner walls of
the tube. Let the vertical cross-wire coincide with the left side
inner wall of the tube. Note down the reading (say L1). Turn the
microscope screws in horizontal direction to view the right side
inner wall of the tube. Note down the reading (say R1). Thus the
radius of the tube can be calculated as 1/2(L1- R1). Turn the II. OBSERVATIONS AND RESULTS
microscope screws in horizontal direction to view the next
capillary tubes and follow the above step to find the radius of
each tube. Finally calculate the surface tension and estimate error
in your experiment.
The contact angle can be determined with an optical contact
angle measuring and contour analysis system. The setup drafted
in figure 2 is used to capture an image of a liquid droplet that sits
on a solid (sessile drop) and to subsequently analyse it with
software. The easiest method to determine the right an left
contact angle is to apply tangents at the intersection of the
drop outline and the baseline. HOLMARC HO-IAD-CAM-01
was used to evaluate the contact angle of a drop of mercury.
Given the height of the drop and the contact angle,the surface
tension can be written as

Fig 3: Sessile drop method

Where ρ = Density of mercury =13593Kgm-3
The experimental values obtained are 133.9150 as contact angle
and height 1.343 mm. Table 1: To find Surface tension of water using capillary rise

Sl. No Radius (mm) Height(mm) Surface

Tension(Nm-1)
1 1.85 4.35 0.079
2 0.25 15.45 0.015

Surface tension of mercury was calculated to be 151.49Nm-1 by

contact angle method.
Surface tension of water was obtained to be 0.079Nm-1 for one
tube and 0.015Nm-1 for the other tube, and the former one with a
percentage error of 8% and the latter one with a percentage error
of 79 %

Fig 2: HOLMARC HO-IAD-CAM-01 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I am greatly thankful to IISER and Dr. Joy Mithra for proving
me opportunity to perform this experiment.

REFERENCES
[1] http://www.niser.ac.in/sps/sites/default/files/basicpage/Surface2015.pdfsurf
ace tension by capillary rise experiment.https ://web.mst.edu/ gbert/Surf
aceT ension/back.htmsurface tension
[2] https://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=79620 surface tension
by capillary rise experiment