Question

How does surfactant reduce surface tension?

Answer 1

1. The surfactant adsorbs at the liquid-gas interface, lowering the surface tension of water.
2. Additionally, they adsorb at the liquid-liquid interface, lowering the interfacial tension between oil and water. CPE is the first extraction technique to employ a surfactant.
3. Surfactants, however, are supposedly amphiphilic. They have hydrophilic groups (in their brains) as well as hydrophobic groups (in their tails). Consequently, a surfactant has a water-soluble or oil-soluble component as well as a water-insoluble component. In general, surfactants tend to disperse in water and adsorb at air-water interfaces.
4. Additionally, it might be where water and oil meet.
5. While this is going on, we can observe the strong cohesive forces that exist between the water molecules. High water surface tension is the effect of this.
6. The energy generated from converting a surface-water contact into a surface-surfactant contact and the hydrophobic effect, or the surfactant hydrocarbon moiety's propensity to escape the aqueous environment, are what drive the surfactant adsorption from aqueous solutions.