Question

Photographs are taken of falling drops of two different liquids: Liquid X Liquid Y Note: the drops have identical volumes. Notice that the oncoming wind tends to flatten out each drop as it falls. What's different about liquids X and Y

Answer 1

Answer:

See explanation

Explanation:

The reason why the droplets are spherical is  the surface area to volume ratio of the falling droplet in a gravitational field. Recall that a sphere has a small surface area to volume ratio.

Between X and Y, one key difference that will define the rate at which the two drops of liquid falls is the viscosity of the fluid. Since the images were not attached, I can not really tell what liquid droplet is more flatter  than the other.

However, the liquid with a greater surface tension will form larger droplets and experience a greater air resistance as the droplet falls. Hence the less the surface tension, the flatter the droplets. Cohesive forces pull molecules of a liquid droplets inwards leading to a more spherical shape and reducing the surface area. Surface tension is therefore the reason why liquids form droplets.