Editing Surface tension (section)

===Water===
Several effects of surface tension can be seen with ordinary water:
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|Beading of rain water on a waxy surface, such as a leaf. Water [[Hydrophobic effect|adheres weakly]] to wax and strongly to itself, so water clusters into drops. Surface tension gives them their near-spherical shape, because a sphere has the smallest possible [[surface area to volume ratio]].
|Formation of [[Drop (liquid)|drops]] occurs when a mass of liquid is stretched. The animation (below) shows water adhering to the faucet gaining mass until it is stretched to a point where the surface tension can no longer keep the drop linked to the faucet. It then separates and surface tension forms the drop into a sphere. If a stream of water were running from the faucet, the stream would break up into drops during its fall. Gravity stretches the stream, then surface tension pinches it into spheres.<ref name="MIT5">{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/1.63/www/Lec-notes/Surfacetension/Lecture5.pdf|title=MIT Lecture Notes on Surface Tension, lecture 5|access-date=April 1, 2007|date=May 2004|publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology|author=Bush, John W. M.|archive-date=February 26, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070226102246/http://web.mit.edu/1.63/www/Lec-notes/Surfacetension/Lecture5.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
|Flotation of objects denser than water occurs when the object is nonwettable and its weight is small enough to be borne by the forces arising from surface tension.<ref name="white"/> For example, [[Gerridae|water striders]] use surface tension to walk on the surface of a pond in the following way. The nonwettability of the water strider's leg means there is no attraction between molecules of the leg and molecules of the water, so when the leg pushes down on the water, the surface tension of the water only tries to recover its flatness from its deformation due to the leg. This behavior of the water pushes the water strider upward so it can stand on the surface of the water as long as its mass is small enough that the water can support it. The surface of the water behaves like an elastic film: the insect's feet cause indentations in the water's surface, increasing its surface area<ref name="MIT3">{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/1.63/www/Lec-notes/Surfacetension/Lecture3.pdf|title=MIT Lecture Notes on Surface Tension, lecture 3|access-date=April 1, 2007|publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology|author=Bush, John W. M.|date=May 2004|archive-date=February 26, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070226102227/http://web.mit.edu/1.63/www/Lec-notes/Surfacetension/Lecture3.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> and tendency of minimization of surface curvature (so area) of the water pushes the insect's feet upward.
|Separation of oil and water (in this case, water and liquid wax) is caused by a tension in the surface between dissimilar liquids. This type of surface tension is called "interface tension", but its chemistry is the same.
|[[Tears of wine]] is the formation of drops and rivulets on the side of a glass containing an alcoholic beverage. Its cause is a complex interaction between the differing surface tensions of water and [[ethanol]]; it is induced by a combination of surface tension modification of water by [[ethanol]] together with ethanol [[evaporating]] faster than water.
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<gallery mode="packed" heights="120">
File:Dew 2.jpg|'''A.''' Water beading on a leaf
File:Water drop animation enhanced small.gif|'''B.''' Water dripping from a tap
File:WaterstriderEnWiki.jpg|'''C.''' [[Water strider]]s stay at the top of liquid because of surface tension
File:1990s Mathmos Astro.jpg|'''D.''' [[Lava lamp]] with interaction between dissimilar liquids: water and liquid wax
File:Wine legs shadow.jpg|'''E.''' Photo showing the "[[tears of wine]]" phenomenon. 
</gallery>