Interfacial Tension

Interfacial tension is the force that occurs at the boundary between two different liquids or between a liquid and a solid. It’s similar to surface tension, which is seen at the surface of a liquid. This tension arises because molecules at the boundary interact differently than those in the bulk of each phase, leading to a sort of “skin” effect. For example, when oil sits on water, the interfacial tension affects how the two liquids mix and how they behave at their interface. Understanding this concept is important in fields like chemistry, biology, and material science.