wiz-icon
MyQuestionIcon
MyQuestionIcon
1
You visited us 1 times! Enjoying our articles? Unlock Full Access!
Question

When water is thrown, why they form spherical drops?

Open in App
Solution

Surface tension is responsible for the shape of liquid droplets. Although easily deformed, droplets of water tend to be pulled into a spherical shape by the cohesive forces of the surface layer. In the absence of other forces, including gravity, drops of virtually all liquids would be approximately spherical. The spherical shape minimizes the necessary "wall tension" of the surface layer according to Laplace's law.

In short, the more surface tension is, the rounder shapes of water you get. And the opposite goes for gravitational potential energy: The lesser gravitational acceleration results in more spherical droplets of water.

The symbol for surface tension is γ


flag
Suggest Corrections
thumbs-up
0
Join BYJU'S Learning Program
similar_icon
Related Videos
thumbnail
lock
Surface Tension
PHYSICS
Watch in App
Join BYJU'S Learning Program
CrossIcon