How to Use surface tension in a Sentence

surface tension

noun
  • Add four to five drops of dish soap to break the surface tension.
    — USA TODAY, 20 July 2023
  • And they get pushed around by changes in surface tension.
    — Natalia Sánchez Loayza, Scientific American, 26 Feb. 2026
  • The soap breaks the surface tension and drowns the ants much more quickly.
    — The Editors Of Organic Life, Good Housekeeping, 26 June 2017
  • The soap cuts the surface tension of the vinegar so the flies will sink and drown.
    — Lauren Piro, Good Housekeeping, 30 June 2023
  • Just as a drop of water can be pulled apart, the surface tension can pull it apart.
    — Ashraya Gupta, Scientific American, 7 Sep. 2023
  • This breaks the surface tension of the vinegar, so the fruit flies won't just float on top of it.
    — Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 16 June 2026
  • Water will find its way into the chip, pulled in by surface tension.
    — Mike Allen, Popular Mechanics, 9 Jan. 2018
  • But if the wiring is too small, the droplets get stuck in the tiny holes, trapping it by surface tension.
    — Elise Takahama, BostonGlobe.com, 30 Mar. 2018
  • Left alone, water will find its way into the chip, pulled in by surface tension.
    — Mike Allen, Popular Mechanics, 27 June 2019
  • The first is simply breaking the surface tension to get through.
    — Lucy Hicks, Science | AAAS, 18 Aug. 2020
  • No bouncing through chop or scraping through surface tension.
    — Gregory Thomas, SFChronicle.com, 8 Oct. 2020
  • Soap and water act like a cloak that reduces surface tension on the lenses.
    — Scottie Andrew, CNN, 21 Apr. 2021
  • Within a matter of minutes, this surface tension has caused my own jaw to clench.
    — Kari Molvar, Vogue, 21 Jan. 2021
  • The smaller a droplet, the more the inward pull of surface tension matters.
    — Helen Czerski, WSJ, 18 Aug. 2017
  • The soap helps break the soil's surface tension and allows water to be absorbed.
    — Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 23 Apr. 2026
  • The soap helps break the soil's surface tension and allows water to be absorbed.
    — Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 18 Oct. 2025
  • The soap helps break the soil's surface tension and allows water to be absorbed.
    — Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 16 Aug. 2025
  • These proteins lead to lower surface tension, and so tissue flows away from that region.
    — Anna Demming, Quanta Magazine, 10 Oct. 2025
  • At tiny scales, the droplets store energy due to inherent surface tension.
    — Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 28 Feb. 2023
  • Each one has surfactants, which reduce the surface tension of a liquid, to help your dishes come out dry.
    — Jennifer Aldrich, Better Homes & Gardens, 2 July 2020
  • Various aquatic insects can use the water's surface tension to skate around along the top lakes and ponds.
    — Elizabeth Gamillo, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 July 2021
  • On their own, this dynamic duo is stuff enough for bubbles, which hold together thanks to a touch of surface tension.
    — Katherine J. Wu, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Feb. 2020
  • The mass of the Cheerios is insufficient to break the milk's surface tension.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 16 Mar. 2022
  • One way to make a reflective display is to alter the surface tension of liquid pixels.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 29 Jan. 2013
  • Water has a higher surface tension than alcohol, so the watery sides drag the wine in the glass up to the top of the wetted area.
    — Anna Demming, Quanta Magazine, 10 Oct. 2025
  • In its place is the all-purpose flour tortilla, to which rehydrated sauces and stews adhere thanks to surface tension.
    — Nicola Twilley, WIRED, 11 Feb. 2020
  • Photographing a metal safety pin floating on water isn’t easy, even with surface tension on your side.
    — Discover Magazine, 20 Dec. 2018
  • The fat in the cream breaks the surface tension that otherwise enables water to crawl up and over the sides of the pot, as when cooking beans or milk.
    — Sohla El-Waylly, Bon Appétit, 30 Mar. 2020
  • The imbalance between the surface tension of the wine in the glass and the water-rich liquid on the walls of the glass pulls even more wine up the glass.
    — Jennifer Leman, Popular Mechanics, 21 Oct. 2019
  • Before they’re flung, the droplets compress, storing up energy in surface tension.
    — Jack Tamisiea, Scientific American, 28 Feb. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'surface tension.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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