A nasty trick to play on a water strider bug is to add detergent to a puddle on which the strider is standing. Water striders are light enough to stand on the water's surface. Adding a detergent or other surfactant to the puddle would cause the water strider to sink. What must a surfactant do to change the water surface

Question

Social Studies

Francisco Garner

24 November, 21:10

A nasty trick to play on a water strider bug is to add detergent to a puddle on which the strider is standing. Water striders are light enough to stand on the water's surface. Adding a detergent or other surfactant to the puddle would cause the water strider to sink. What must a surfactant do to change the water surface

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Answers (1)

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Waylon Huynh · Answer 1

Break the hydrogen bond in the water molecular

Explanation:

Water molecule are held together by hydrogen bond which makes the water surface to act as an 'elastic skin' for the water strider to be able to float. Detergent serves as a surfactant which breaks the water surface by disrupting its hydrogen bonds thus making the water strider to sink