Water Surface Tension

[NMessner]

How do I reduce the water surface tension in my swimming pool to deter the landing of wasps? Any suggestions?

[Qfwfq]

Well, this isn't an introduction isn't it? ;)

 

Anyway it depends on how soapy you want your pool water to be. Detergents reduce the surface tension.

[modest]

That's kind of an interesting idea.

 

Agents that lower the surface tension of water at low concentrations are called surfactants. The two common types are usually classified as detergents and heavy alcohols. Surfactants work because one side of their molecule wants to attach itself to water and the other side does not. This breaks up some of the cohesion between the polar water molecules and makes it, what is usually called, 'wetter'.

 

I believe your idea would work conceptually. You can easily test it by putting a needle on the surface of a cup of water. It will float because of the high surface tension. Adding a sprinkle of detergent or a few drops of ethanol to the water would sink the needle because of the lower surface tension. The same thing should happen to any unfortunate wasp landing in such treated water—it would sink and no doubt drown.

 

The practical drawback, which may make the idea unworkable, is as Q says: the amount of surfactant needed may well foul the water beyond a pleasant swimming experience. The surfactant would also make the water murky with dirt and oil which would normally be filtered and skimmed out of the water, but would rather dissolve in the water inseparably because of the solubilisation effect that surfactant molecules have (something that is currently of interest with the use of dispersants in the gulf of Mexico, but that's an unneeded tangent).

 

All in all, by treating the water in that way, I think you would be trading a rather small problem with a couple rather large ones.

 

~modest

Edited August 10, 2010 by modest
typo

[Illiad]

How to Attract Insect-Eating Birds, Part 2 | DoItYourself.com

This is a better solution.