U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

PUBLICATIONS

Maximum Force Technique for the Measurement of the Surface Tension of a Small Droplet by AFM

Published

Author(s)

P M. McGuiggan, Jay Wallace

Abstract

An atomic force microscope (AFM) is used to measure the force on a quartz rod as the rod is pulled from an air/fluid interface. The rod is pulled into the solution when the rod touches the liquid. When the rod is pulled out of the liquid, a fluid bridge forms between the liquid and the base of the rod. As the rod is being pulled, a maximum force is measured when the bridge necks down and finally detaches from the rod. The maximum force on the rod is an intrinsic property of the system and can be used to calculate the surface tension of the liquid. Alternately, if the surface tension of the liquid is known, the maximum force of the meniscus can be used to calibrate the spring constant of the AFM. Results are presented of the measurement of the maximum force of water, 10-3 M cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and tetradecane.
Citation
Langmuir
Pub Type
Journals

Keywords

AFM, maximum force, surface tension

Citation

McGuiggan, P. and Wallace, J. (2008), Maximum Force Technique for the Measurement of the Surface Tension of a Small Droplet by AFM, Langmuir (Accessed April 24, 2024)

Created October 16, 2008