Foaming agent Foaming agent A foaming agent is a material that facilitates formation of foam such as a surfactant or a blowing agent. A surfactant, when present in small amounts, reduces surface tension of a liquid (reduces the work needed to create the foam) or increases its colloidal stability by inhibiting coalescence of bubbles. A blowing agent is a gas that forms the gaseous part of the foam. Sodium laureth sulfate, or sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES), is a detergent and surfactant found in many personal care products (soaps, shampoos, toothpastes, etc.). It is an inexpensive and effective foamer. Sodium lauryl sulfate
Surface tension of the film increases by (the factor of 2 is here because the liquid has two sides, two surfaces). Thus, multiplying both the numerator and the denominator of by , we get This work is, by the usual arguments, interpreted as being stored as potential energy. Consequently, surface tension can be also measured in SI system as joules per square meter and in the cgs system as ergs per cm. Since mechanical systems try to find a state of minimum potential energy, a free droplet of liquid naturally assumes a spherical shape, which has the minimum surface area for a