Methods of measurement

1. Surface tension by the ring method (Du Nouy method)

The du Nouy ring method is one technique by which the surface tension of a liquid can be measured. The method involves slowly lifting a ring, often made of platinum, from the surface of a liquid. The force required to raise the ring from the liquid's surface is measured and related to the liquid's surface tension. This technique was proposed by the French physicist Pierre Lecomte du Noy (18831947) in a paper published in 1925

2. The Du Nouy Padday method

Is a minimized version of the Du Nouy rod replacing a large platinum ring with a thin rod that is used to measure equilibrium surface tension or dynamic surface tension at an airliquid

interface. In this method, the rod is oriented perpendicular to the interface, and the force exerted on it is measured. Based on the work of Padday, this method finds wide use in the preparation and monitoring of LangmuirBlodgett films, ink & coating development, pharmaceutical screening, and academic research

Du Nouy Padday rod going into liquid showing the maximum force pull of water.

Portable tensiometer that can be used in the field

3. Wilhelmy plate
A Wilhelmy plate is a thin plate that is used to measure equilibrium surface or interfacial tension at an airliquid or liquidliquid interface. In this method, the plate is oriented perpendicular to the interface, and the force exerted on it is measured. Based on the work of Ludwig Wilhelmy, this method finds wide use in the preparation and monitoring of Langmuir Blodgett films.

Illustration of Wilhelmy plate method

4. Pendant drop test

In the pendant drop test, a drop of liquid is suspended from the end of a tube by surface tension. The force due to surface tension is proportional to the length of the boundary between the liquid and the tube, with the proportionality constant usually denoted . Since the length of this boundary is the circumference of the tube, the force due to surface tension is given by

where d is the tube diameter. The mass m of the drop hanging from the end of the tube can be found by equating the force due to gravity (Fg = mg) with the component of the surface tension in the vertical direction (F sin ) giving the formula

where is the angle of contact with the tube, and g is the acceleration due to gravity. The limit of this formula, as goes to 90, gives the maximum weight of a pendant drop for a liquid with a given surface tension, .

This relationship is the basis of a convenient method of measuring surface tension, commonly used in the petroleum industry. More sophisticated methods are available when the surface tension is unknown that consider the developing shape of the pendant as the drop grows. The pendant drop test illustrated

5. Spinning drop method

Spinning drop method (rotating drop method) is one of the methods that is used to measure interfacial tension. Basically, measurements are carried out in a rotating horizontal tube which contains a dense fluid. One drop of a less dense liquid is placed inside the fluid. Since the rotation of the horizontal tube creates a centrifugal force towards the tube walls, the liquid drop starts to be elongated and this elongation stops when the interfacial tension and centrifugal forces are balanced. Values obtained at this equilibrium point are used to estimate surface tension of the particular liquid by using appropriate correlations. A device called spinning drop tensiometer is generally utilized for this purpose. Spinning drop method is usually preferred for the accurate measurements of surface tensions below 102 mN/m. This is because of the limitations in the correlations where a sufficient elongation of the liquid is required. It refers to either using the fluids with low interfacial tension or working at very high angular velocities. This method is widely used in many different applications such as measuring the interfacial tension of polymer blends and copolymers.

6. Maximum bubble pressure method

In physics, the maximum bubble pressure method, or in short bubble measure method, is a technique to measure the surface tension of a liquid, with surfactants.

7. Stalagmometric method
The stalagmometric method is one of the most common methods for measuring surface tension. The principle is to measure the weight of the drops of the fluid falling from the capillary glass tube, and then calculate the surface tension of the specific fluid which we are interested in. We know the weight of each drop of the liquid by counting the number of the drops falling out. From this we can determine the surface tension.

8. Sessile drop technique

The Sessile Drop Technique is a method used for the characterization of solid surface energies, and in some cases, aspects of liquid surface energies. The main premise of the method is that by placing a droplet of liquid with a known surface energy, the shape of the drop, specifically the contact angle, and the known surface energy of the liquid are the parameters which can be used to calculate the surface energy of the solid sample. The liquid used for such experiments is referred to as the probe liquid, and the use of several different probe liquids is required.

An illustration of the sessile drop technique with a liquid droplet partially wetting a solid substrate . C is the contact angle, and , , represent the solidgas, gasliquid, and liquidsolid interfaces, respectively.

SHAHO ABDUL QADER