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Engineering Dictionary

Wetting

A phenomenon involving a solid and a liquid in such intimate contact that the adhesive force between the two phases is greater than the cohesive force within the liquid. Thus a solid that is wetted, on being removed from the liquid bath, will have a thin continuous layer of liquid adherring to it. Foreign substances such as grease may prevent wetting. Addition agents, such as detergents, may induce wetting by lowering the surface tension of the liquid.