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Surface tension of water is the physical property of hydrogen bonding that makes the water molecule. The way that this works is that a water molecule (H2O) is a polar molecule. This is because the oxygen has a much higher electronegative value than the hydrogen. This means that the oxygen gets a lot higher 'share' of the shared electrons than the hydrogen does. This gives oxygen a very high partial negative charge, and the hydrogen a very high partial positive charge. Because of these high partial charges on each end of the molecule, they are very highly attracted to each other

This makes a strong type of intermolecular force called a hydrogen bond. The hydrogen bond 'pulls' the water molecules towards each other. So when in the centre of a water molecule the hydrogen bonds go in every direction. But when they are on the outside of a mass of water they are attracted only by molecules inside the mass of water. This makes a 'film' over the surface of the water.

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