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Would you be able to swim if water had no surface tension?

Best Answers

Yes. Buoyancy is not affected by surface tension. You could still propel yourself by displacing water in a specific direction. If your average density is less than 1.0 g/cc, you would still float. What would be different? read more

We cannot make water have no surface tension, but we can lower it. A couple of easy ways if you want to experiment. 1) Heat the water. As it warms, surface tension goes down. Probably why hot water cleans a bit better than cold. The drops don’t bridge over pores or rough surface areas as easily. It wets the surface better. read more

Surface Tension and Droplets: Surface tension is responsible for the shape of liquid droplets. Although easily deformed, droplets of water tend to be pulled into a spherical shape by the cohesive forces of the surface layer. read more

This "stretchy skin" effect is called surface tension. Surface tension plays an important role in the way liquids behave. If you fill a glass with water, you will be able to add water above the rim of the glass because of surface tension. read more

Further Research

Sink or Swim (Surface Tension)
www.stevespanglerscience.com

surface tension and swimming
www.thenakedscientists.com