ELI5 : why do certain containers cause the liquid to disastrously pour down the side but others don’t?

2.29K views

ELI5 : why do certain containers cause the liquid to disastrously pour down the side but others don’t?

In: Chemistry

Anonymous 0 Comments

This is due to [surface tension](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_tension). Water wants to stick to hard surfaces as this is a lower energy arrangement. Component of gravity perpendicular to glass pulls water away from glass wall, and surface tension pulls water to glass wall. When the angle between glass wall and vertical direction is small, component of gravity perpendicular to glass wall is small and surface tension prevails.