Table of Contents
Cohesive and Adhesive Forces
(i) Cohesive force:
It is the force of attraction between the molecules of the same substance.
Example:
Solids have definite shape and size due to strong forces of cohesion amongst their molecules.
(ii) Adhesive force:
It is the force of attraction between the molecules of two different substances.
Example:
It is due to force of adhesion that ink sticks to paper while writing.
Water wets the walls of its glass container because the force of adhesion between water and glass is greater than the force of cohesion between the water molecules.
On the contrary, mercury does not wet glass because the force of cohesion between the mercury molecules is much greater than the force of adhesion between mercury and glass.