Evidence that membrane surface tension regulates water fluxes in intact cells of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain overexpressing aquaporin AQY1 was obtained by assessing the osmotic water transport parameters in cells equilibrated in different osmolarities. The osmotic water permeability coefficients (P(f)) obtained for yeast cells overexpressing AQY1 incubated in low osmolarity buffers were s...

The surface tension of water is an important parameter for many biological or industrial processes, and roughly a factor of 3 higher than that of nonpolar liquids such as oils, which is usually attributed to hydrogen bonding and dipolar interactions. Here we show by studying the formation of water drops that the surface tension of a freshly created water surface is even higher (∼90 mN m-1) than...

This paper studies the collapse of a void in an elastomer caused by osmosis. The void is filled with liquid water, while the elastomer is surrounded by unsaturated air. The difference in humidity motivates water molecules to permeate through the elastomer, from inside the void to outside the elastomer, leaving the liquid water inside the void in tension. When the tension is low, the void reduce...

[1] The interfacial interaction between mineral surfaces and immiscible fluids determines the efficiency of enhanced oil or gas recovery operations as well as our ability to inject and store CO2 in geological formations. Previous studies have shown that the interfacial tension and contact angle in CO2‐water‐mineral systems change noticeably with fluid pressure. We compile previous results and e...

We discuss the relationship between the dynamically changing tension gradients required to move water rapidly through the xylem conduits of plants and the proportion of conduits lost through embolism as a result of water tension. We consider the implications of this relationship to the water relations of trees. We have compiled quantitative data on the water relations, hydraulic architecture an...

We consider the calculation of the surface tension from simulations of several models of water, such as the traditional TIP3P, SPC, SPC/E, and TIP4P models, and the new generation of TIP4P-like models including the TIP4P/Ew, TIP4P/Ice, and TIP4P/2005. We employ a thermodynamic route proposed by Gloor et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 123, 134703 (2005)] to determine the surface tension that involves the e...

A water bridge refers to an experimental "flexible cable" made up of pure de-ionized water, which can hang across two supports maintained with a sufficiently large voltage difference. The resulting electric fields within the de-ionized water flexible cable maintain a tension that sustains the water against the downward force of gravity. A detailed calculation of the water bridge tension will be...

Tree stems shrink in diameter during the day and swell during the night in response to changes in water tension in the xylem. Stem shrinkage can easily be measured in a nondestructive way, to derive continuous information about tree water status. The relationship between the strain and the change in water tension can be evaluated by empirical calibrations, or can be related to the structure of ...

We study the surface tension of ionic solutions at air/water and oil/water interfaces by using field-theoretical methods and including a finite proximal surface-region with ionic-specific interactions. The free energy is expanded to first-order in a loop expansion beyond the mean-field result. We calculate the excess surface tension and obtain analytical predictions that reunite the Onsager-Sam...

Direct molecular dynamics simulations of the liquid-liquid interface of water-n-alkane and water-methanol-n-alkane systems have been performed in order to study the interfacial properties of these systems. The simulations were carried out using the NERD revised force field of Nath et al. for the n-alkanes, the simple point charge extended model for water, and the optimized potential for liquid ...