Surface tension effects of surface tension can be seen with ordinary water: Surface tension is visible in other common phenomena, especially when surfactants are used to decrease it: Surface tension, represented by the symbol "γ" (alternatively "σ" or "T"), is measured in force per unit length. Its SI unit is newton per meter but the cgs unit of dyne per centimeter is also used. For example, Surface tension can be defined in terms of force or energy. In terms of force: surface tension of a liquid is the force per unit length. In the illustration on the right, the rectangular frame, composed
Wetting surface tension between liquid and vapor, the γ is the solid vapor surface tension of every component and γ is the solid liquid surface tension of every component. A case that is worth mentioning is when the liquid drop is placed on the substrate and creates small air pockets underneath it. This case for a two-component system is denoted by: Here the key difference to notice is that there is no surface tension between the solid and the vapor for the second surface tension component. This is because of the assumption that the surface of air that is exposed is