Surfactant Surfactant Surfactants are compounds that lower the surface tension (or interfacial tension) between two liquids, between a gas and a liquid, or between a liquid and a solid. Surfactants may act as detergents, wetting agents, emulsifiers, foaming agents, and dispersants. The term "surfactant" is a blend of "surface active agent". In the United States National Library of Medicine's Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) vocabulary, "surfactant" is reserved for the meaning pulmonary surfactant. For the more general meaning, "surface active agent/s" is the heading. Surfactants are usually organic compounds that are amphiphilic, meaning they contain both hydrophobic groups (their "tails") and hydrophilic
Surface tension wire and dipping it in soap-solution, a locally minimal surface will appear in the resulting soap-film within seconds. The reason for this is that the pressure difference across a fluid interface is proportional to the mean curvature, as seen in the Young–Laplace equation. For an open soap film, the pressure difference is zero, hence the mean curvature is zero, and minimal surfaces have the property of zero mean curvature. The surface of any liquid is an interface between that liquid and some other medium. The top surface of a pond, for example, is an interface between the pond water and