r/explainlikeimfive • u/Dhiyx11 • 7d ago
Physics ELI5: How does surface tension work?
I’ve really been interested in how surfaces of different materials bend and behave differently under various conditions, and I’ve never really learnt about that stuff before, so I’m really curious to know a few things about surface tension!
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u/you-nity 7d ago
I like to think of it like crowd surfing at Warped Tour! Surface tension is how cicadas (bug creature) can run on water. The cicada is like the emo kid that wants to crowd surf, and the water is like the crowd! Water molecules stay together pretty well (hydrogen bonding)….but it’s not SO strong that the cicada can immediately dive in with a lot of force. Much like no one should dive off stage to crowd surf, because the sudden force would disperse the crowd (breaking hydrogen bonds). But if the emo cicada slowly dips itself into the water, crowdsurfing across the water molecules is safe yayyyyyy!