Surface stress was first defined by Josiah Willard Gibbs as the amount of reversible work per unit area needed to elastically stretch a pre-existing surface. A similar term called “surface free energy”, which represents the excess free energy per unit area needed to create a new surface, is easily confused with “surface stress”. Although surface stress and surface free energy of liquid-gas or liquid-liquid interface are the same, they are very different in solid–gas or solid–solid interface, which will be discussed in details later. Since both terms represent a force per unit length, they have been referred to as “surface tension”, which contributes further to the confusion in the literature.
Read more about Surface Stress: Thermodynamics of Surface Stress, Physical Origins of Surface Stress, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words surface and/or stress:
“But the surface of the Earth was meant for man. He wasn’t meant to live in a hole in the ground.”
—Edward L. Bernds (b. 1911)
“Anyone who wishes to combine domestic responsibilities and paid employment with the least stress and most enjoyment might start by pondering this paradox: the first step to better functioning is to stop blaming herself for not functioning well enough.”
—Faye J. Crosby (20th century)