Surface Tension 

  • The surface tension of water acts like a skin.
  • The molecules within the liquid are surrounded by the hydrogen bonded to adjacent water molecules.
  • At the surface of the liquid the water molecules experience an uneven attraction and the water molecule is only hydrogen bonded to one side.
  • Since the water molecule cannot form a hydrogen bond with the air it is not attracted to the air so what ends up happening is the water molecules at the surface tend to be drawn into the body of the liquid.
  • The inward force or pull that tends to minimize the surface area of a liquid is called surface tension.