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In general, liquids have a flat surface, because gravity tends to flatten them out. It is not perfectly flat, and often has waves or ripples if something has disturbed it. Even a perfectly undisturbed liquid is not perfectly flat, since gravity pulls in the direction of the center of the Earth, and there will be some curvature in the surface as a result - but since the center of the Earth is very distant, the curvature is slight. An additional influence on the shape of the surface of a liquid is surface tension. Water, in particular, has an attraction for many substances, and will rise up slightly where it meets the walls of its container.

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Q: What is the shape of a liquid at its surface?
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Related questions

What is crescent shaped surface of the liquid the forms and pipettes and graduated cylinders?

That crescent shaped surface is known as the meniscus, and is a response to the shape of the container by the liquid.


What is the crescent shaped surface of liquid the forms pipettes and graduated cylinders?

That crescent shaped surface is known as the meniscus, and is a response to the shape of the container by the liquid.


What is the crescent shape surface of liquid that forms in pipettes and graduated cylinders?

the meniscus


Which physical phenomenon is attributed to tendency of a liquid drop to assume spherical shape?

Surface Tension


Does a liquid have a define shape?

Usually, a liquid does not have a predetermined or definite shape. It will take on the shape of the container it is in or surface it is on.The only extenuating circumstance is during free-fall, or where there is negligible or no gravity - it will be become almost spherical, held together by surface tension.


What does liquid matter take shape of?

It really depends what type of liquid you have, and its molecular arrangement. For example, a water particle (H2O) would take the shape of one oxygen and two hydrogen. However, in very vague models, water particles, as well as every other type are represented as circles with arrows signifying their movement patterns. In a liquid the particles are fairly tightly packed and are constantly rolling over the top of each other.


Where did the droplets of water come from?

Droplets of water will condense on a surface when the surface drops below the Dew Point temperature at that relative humidity.That is, the vapour condenses into a liquid phase. The droplet shape is caused by surface tension of the liquid.


What is the curved surface at the top of a liquid?

The word for this is meniscus. It comes from a Greek word meaning "crescent". It takes that shape due to surface tension.


Why does liquid take the shape of a sphere when in zero gravity and gases does not?

It is due to surface tension. Surface tension is only for liquids. Due to surface tension surface energy is to be minimized only reducing the area. For a given volume sphere has minimum surface area. Hence spherical shape.


Why the dot of water is always sphere?

Surface tension is in equilibrium. The shape of a sphere has the highest volume to surface area to radius ratio. This shape is the lowest energy level a volume of liquid can have. Deforming it into another shape would involve an increase in surface area and an increase in the average radius.


What are the properties of a liquid?

can be pouredflowstakes the shape of its containerfixed volumescan't be squashedThe properties of a liquid: has a fixed volume, but will assume the shape of the container it fills.density, viscosity, compressibility, thermal conductivity, electrical resistivity, boiling point, freezing point, dielectric properties, surface tension, vapour pressure, etc.


What is the cresent shaped surface of a liquid that forms in pipettes and graduated cylinders?

The crescent shaped surface of liquid that forms in pipettes and graduated cylinders is known as a meniscus.The term for the shape of a liquid at its surface is known as a meniscus.It is called the meniscus. It is usually concave in all liquids; however, it is convex in mercury.