| Abstract: | Using a device constructed in our laboratory, measurements of the detachment force of a small sulphur plate from hydrocarbon drops of various volumes located on a large sulphur plate were carried out. Eleven aliphatic hydrocarbons in the series from n-hexane to n-hexadecane were used. Using the literature data for hydrocarbon-water interfacial tensions and the contact angles for the system sulphur/hydrocarbon drop/water, the detachment force was also calculated from the Laplace equation. On the basis of the measured results it was found that the detachment force depends on the hydrocarbon drop volume and the type of hydrocarbon and that in the many cases there is a good agreement between the measured and calculated values of the detachment force. It was also found that there is a stepwise relationship between the detachment force and the number of carbon atoms in the hydrocarbon molecule. |
