Surface Tension of Curved Surfaces

The iteration method for calculating surface tension using the liquid partition function, developed by Changet al., is used to evaluate the surface tension of both concave and convex surfaces. Using the calculated values of surface tension, the change of vapor pressure with curvature is determined from the Kelvin equation. According to the calculations for various liquids such as Ar, N2, C6H6, C6H12, and H2O, (i) the surface tension increases with concavity and decreases with convexity of surface, and (ii) providing the radii are smaller than 10−6 cm, there are appreciable changes in surface tension.