The surface tensions of liquid gold and of a gold-copper alloy were measured on electromagnetically levitated drops as a function of temperature in ground-based and in microgravity experiments. In terrestrial experiments, strong electromagnetic fields are necessary to compensate the earth's gravity. Their influence on the drop cannot be neglected, and a correction formula is applied to obtain the true surface tension. In microgravity, the positioning forces are negligible. Comparison of the corrected ground-based results with our microgravity data yield excellent agreement.

• Received 17 August 1995

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.75.4043