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Soap makes water wetter. Kind of. It reduces the surface tension, allowing it to spread out and penetrate better. Making it clean better. So could we produce a surface tension-free water? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 4 months ago by Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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What about another liquid? Is there a "perfect" cleaner, something that spreads and penetrates like nothing else?

Very interested in the answer.

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[–] davel@lemmy.ml 30 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

You seem to be assuming that a perfectly tensionless water would make for a superior cleaner, but there’s no reason to assume that would be true. Lowering surface tension is not the sole reason that soap is a good cleaner; it’s not even the biggest reason.
I have no idea if water can be made perfectly tensionless, but that’s what dishwasher rinse-aids are for: to make the water molecules stick to things (including each other) less, so they evaporate more quickly & easily. If You Want Drier Dishes, Use Dishwasher Rinse Aid

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Edit to add: I suppose that definitionally no liquid is without surface tension.

A liquid is made up of tiny vibrating particles of matter, such as atoms, held together by intermolecular bonds. Like a gas, a liquid is able to flow and take the shape of a container. Unlike a gas, a liquid maintains a fairly constant density and does not disperse to fill every space of a container.