[paul.fr]

is there? If not, why?

[another_someone]

The surface tension of water is created by the van der Waals force (an electrical force between molecules).  In order to increase surface tension, I would imagine one would have to find a way of increasing the range of the force or strength of these electrical forces.

http://www.iop.org/EJ/article/0295-5075/56/2/187/epl_56_2_187.pdf?request-id=tqK2oWKV3BGpnu4O3Ai7Kg

Contrary to surfactant solutions, aqueous electrolytes possess surface tensions higher than
pure water.

The above is also at http://www.iop.org/EJ/article/0295-5075/56/2/187/6756.html

[Mr Andrew]

To increase the surface tension of water, you'd have to add something to water, in which case, it would no longer be pure water.  By adding something more polar than water to water, the surface tension would increase (just as doing the opposite decreases surface tension).  But then again, unless it takes a relatively small amount of this extremely polar substance, why not just use the additive by itself?  One problem is that it might be very viscous because of its polarity (of even a solid).  Hmmm...sounds like a chemistry thread to me!

[Bored chemist]

I rather suspect that the surface tension of water is temperature dependent in which case it's perfectly easy to change it without adding anything.

[neilep]

Ewe can always freeze it !..whilst playing Hitchcock style music ALA Psycho  !!...this would make it very tense !!

[Aepos]

Hi there, Paul.! I'm glad to see you're interested in the science of surface tension! Well, it's a proven fact that as the temperature of water (or any other liquid) approaches freezing, its surface tension increases.

Just see this image:
newbielink:http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Hbase/fluids/imgflu/surten3.gif [nonactive]

As you can see the surface tension (in dyne/cm) increases 15 units from boiling to near-freezing.

Hope this helps!

[RD]

Heavy water is more viscous than light water, but their surface tensions are essentially the same.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_water#Physical_properties_.28with_comparison_to_light_water.29

[lightarrow]

is there? If not, why?

According to Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_tension
Water's surface tension at 0°C is 75.64 (maximum value for water), while for a 6M solution of NaCl, at 20°C is 82.55. So, I assume that dissolving salts (or maybe even sugar, or both, salt and sugar) will, in general, increase water surface tension. You only have to choose what to dissolve, making maybe some trials.

[RD]

I was thinking a very strong magnetic field may affect surface tension (increase or decrease), and found this article ...

Rather unexpectedly, such electric fields (~1 MV m-1) apparently increase water's surface tension by about 2%...

There is some dispute over the effects of electric and magnetic fields on surface tension. Electric and magnetic fields have been reported to lower the surface tensions of natural water by up to 8% . However, it has been noted elsewhere that surface tension measurements are too sensitive to impurities to provide reliable data . Recently, high magnetic fields (10 T) have been reported as increasing the surface tension of water by almost 2%, with this being possibly due to the stabilization of the hydrogen bonds or the dampening of surface waves

http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/water/magnetic.html#mag