Search

MiS Preprint Repository

We have decided to discontinue the publication of preprints on our preprint server as of 1 March 2024. The publication culture within mathematics has changed so much due to the rise of repositories such as ArXiV (www.arxiv.org) that we are encouraging all institute members to make their preprints available there. An institute's repository in its previous form is, therefore, unnecessary. The preprints published to date will remain available here, but we will not add any new preprints here.

MiS Preprint
76/2009

The rise and demise of the Young surface tension diagram; a final celebration and respectful farewell

Robert Finn

Abstract

The Young diagram for determining the contact angle at a triple interface formed by two fluids with a solid, although based on speculative reasoning, found initially a universal acceptance, without reservation. Later expository articles pointed out consequences that had initially been overlooked, but which were consistent in the specific cases considered. Some authors then produced reasoning disputing the construction, and examples - most recently by the present author - were introduced, putting the underlying concept into serious doubt. Nevertheless, the construction remains firmly embedded in the curricula of major universities and institutes throughout the world; it continues to be used in engineering design, and some articles emphatically defending it have appeared recently in major journals. The present work outlines past literature and provides a more precise statement of the Young assertion than is customary. It comments on the reasoning in one of the articles defending the assertion, and also presents a further example, indicating conceptual difficulties to which one is led by the premises of that reference.

Received:
Dec 9, 2009
Published:
Dec 10, 2009
MSC Codes:
76B45
Keywords:
capillarity, surface tension, contact angle

Related publications

Preprint
2009 Repository Open Access
Robert Finn

The rise and demise of the Young surface tension diagram : a final celebration and respectful farewell