Surface energy in the context of "Conservation of energy"

Adsorption is the adhesion of atoms, ions or molecules from a gas, liquid or dissolved solid to a surface. This process creates a film of the adsorbate on the surface of the adsorbent. This process differs from absorption, in which a fluid (the absorbate) is dissolved by or permeates a liquid or solid (the absorbent). While adsorption does often precede absorption, which involves the transfer of the absorbate into the volume of the absorbent material, alternatively, adsorption is distinctly a surface phenomenon, wherein the adsorbate does not penetrate through the material surface and into the bulk of the adsorbent. The term sorption encompasses both adsorption and absorption, and desorption is the reverse of sorption.

Like surface tension, adsorption is a consequence of surface energy. In a bulk material, all the bonding requirements (be they ionic, covalent or metallic) of the constituent atoms of the material are fulfilled by other atoms in the material. However, atoms on the surface of the adsorbent are not wholly surrounded by other adsorbent atoms and therefore can attract adsorbates. The exact nature of the bonding depends on the details of the species involved, but the adsorption process is generally classified as physisorption (characteristic of weak van der Waals forces) or chemisorption (characteristic of covalent bonding). It may also occur due to electrostatic attraction. The nature of the adsorption can affect the structure of the adsorbed species. For example, polymer physisorption from solution can result in squashed structures on a surface.

A release liner or release paper, also called a backing liner, is a paper or plastic-based film sheet (usually applied during the manufacturing process) used to prevent a sticky surface from prematurely adhering. It is coated on one or both sides with a release agent, which provides a release effect against any type of a sticky material such as an adhesive or a mastic. Release liners are available in different colors, with or without printing under the low surface energy coating or on the backside of the liner. Release is separation of the liner from a sticky material; liner is the carrier for the release agent.

Anatase is a metastable mineral form of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) with a tetragonal crystal structure. Although colorless or white when pure, anatase in nature is usually a black solid due to impurities. Three other polymorphs (or mineral forms) of titanium dioxide are known to occur naturally: brookite, akaogiite, and rutile, with rutile being the most common and most stable of the bunch. Anatase is formed at relatively low temperatures and found in minor concentrations in igneous and metamorphic rocks. Glass coated with a thin film of TiO₂ shows antifogging and self-cleaning properties under ultraviolet radiation.

Anatase is always found as small, isolated, and sharply developed crystals, and like rutile, it crystallizes in a tetragonal system. Anatase is metastable at all temperatures and pressures, with rutile being the equilibrium polymorph. Nevertheless, anatase is often the first titanium dioxide phase to form in many processes due to its lower surface energy, with a transformation to rutile taking place at elevated temperatures. Although the degree of symmetry is the same for both anatase and rutile phases, there is no relation between the interfacial angles of the two minerals, except in the prism-zone of 45° and 90°. The common octahedral crystal habit of anatase, with four perfect cleavage planes, has an angle over its polar edge of 82°9', whereas rutile octahedra only has a polar edge angle of 56°52½'. The steeper angle gives anatase crystals a longer vertical axis and skinnier appearance than rutile. Additional important differences exist between the physical characters of anatase and rutile. For example, anatase is less hard (5.5–6 vs. 6–6.5 on the Mohs scale) and less dense (specific gravity about 3.9 vs. 4.2) than rutile. Anatase is also optically negative, whereas rutile is optically positive. Anatase has a more strongly adamantine or metallic-adamantine luster than that of rutile as well.

Fluid thread breakup is the process by which a single mass of fluid breaks into several smaller fluid masses. The process is characterized by the elongation of the fluid mass forming thin, thread-like regions between larger nodules of fluid. The thread-like regions continue to thin until they break, forming individual droplets of fluid.

Thread breakup occurs where two fluids or a fluid in a vacuum form a free surface with surface energy. If more surface area is present than the minimum required to contain the volume of fluid, the system has an excess of surface energy. A system not at the minimum energy state will attempt to rearrange so as to move toward the lower energy state, leading to the breakup of the fluid into smaller masses to minimize the system surface energy by reducing the surface area. The exact outcome of the thread breakup process is dependent on the surface tension, viscosity, density, and diameter of the thread undergoing breakup.