Question

Why does mercury fallas beads on most surfaces? What does surface tension actually mean?

Answer 1

Mercury has a high surface tension due to high intermolecular forces of attraction. As a result, mercury fall as beads on most surfaces.

The force with which the surface molecules of a liquid are held together is called surface tension. The molecules at the surface of a liquid are attracted by the molecules in the bulk. As a result, the liquid pulls itself together tending to occupy the least possible area (a sphere). This tendency of liquid to contract is called surface tension.