A CRITICAL REVIEW: SURFACE AND INTERFACIAL TENSION MEASUREMENT BY THE DROP WEIGHT METHOD

The drop weight method has been used as a standard method for surface and interfacial tension measurement. However, lack of appropriate guidelines in using this method has resulted in errors. The specific objective of this critical review is to present the experimental setup, the limitations on the correction factors, and the principle of the drop weight method. Mathematical models of correction factors were evaluated by using a proposed error analysis. The use of the proposed Lee-Chan-Pogaku model and HG-Equation 2 for correction factor determination is suggested. However, further investigations would be required to justify the validity of the correction factors at low r/V ^1/3 range and their use for viscous fluids. The physics of drop detachment is complicated; more investigations would be required to form a rigid theory of this method.     

A CRITICAL REVIEW: SURFACE AND INTERFACIAL TENSION MEASUREMENT BY THE DROP WEIGHT METHOD

The drop weight method has been used as a standard method for surface and interfacial tension measurement. However, lack of appropriate guidelines in using this method has resulted in errors. The specific objective of this critical review is to present the experimental setup, the limitations on the correction factors, and the principle of the drop weight method. Mathematical models of correction factors were evaluated by using a proposed error analysis. The use of the proposed Lee-Chan-Pogaku model and HG-Equation 2 for correction factor determination is suggested. However, further investigations would be required to justify the validity of the correction factors at low r/V^1/3 range and their use for viscous fluids. The physics of drop detachment is complicated; more investigations would be required to form a rigid theory of this method.     

SURFACE TENSION AND BUOYANCY DRIVEN INSTABILITIES IN A LAYER OF LIQUID TIN HEATED FROM BELOW

The linear theory of Pearson (1958) and Nield (1964) is modified here to study liquid tin and include the finite thermal resistances of the bounding layers of boron nitride, copper and air (∼10^-2 torr) in the experiments of Ginde et al. (1989). The magnitude of the ΔT_c across the layer of liquid tin required for the onset of convection depends on the ratios of the thermal conductivities and thicknesses of the supporting layers of boron nitride and copper to those of the tin.

According to our theory surface tension contributes more than buoyancy to the instability observed experimentally. The critical ΔT_c observed required for the onset of convection in the layer of tin, is up to 25% lower than that predicted, which shows the layer is less stable than the theory indicates. Thus the surface of the tin was uncontaminated, or a significantly larger observed critical ΔT_c would be expected.

The boundary condition on the thermal fluctuations at the base of the supporting layer of copper does not appear to be important in these experiments. However, the thermal resistance of the boron nitride would have to be assumed to be unrealistically large to obtain agreement within experimental error with the theory.     

CONTINUUM MECHANICS APPLIED TO A VERY THIN LIQUID FILM: ESTIMATION OF SURFACE TENSION FOR THE n-ALKANES

This analysis demonstrates that, at least in some cases, continuum mechanics can be successfully applied in problems involving very thin films, so long as proper recognition is given to long-range intermolecular forces and to the finite size of molecules. In this particular case, the integral mechanical energy balance is used to analyze a simple thought experiment in which a thin liquid film is slowly stretched. The result is an expression for surface tension as a function of the Hamaker constant describing liquid-liquid, long-range intermolecular forces, the molecular weight, and the liquid density, which is in good agreement with previous experimental measurements for n-alkanes.