II. On the nature of electrocapillary phenomena.—I. Their relation to the potential differences between solutions

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Abstract
The phenomenon of surface tension exhibited at the surface of separation between two homogeneous liquids may be regarded as arising from such a variation in the distribution of the matter composing each of the liquids, in the immediate neighbourhood of the surface of separation, that the energy of given quantities of the two liquids is greater when these are in the neighbourhood of the surface than when each is in the homogeneous interior of its corresponding liquid. On such a view, the tension per unit length in the surface will be equal to dE/dS , where dE is the increase in the potential energy of the system of two liquids, resulting from an increase, dS , of the surface of separation between them. The distribution of energy here referred to may be considered independent of possible electrostatic effects at the surface of separation.

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