title: Contact angle hysteresis explained.
abstract: A view of contact angle hysteresis from the perspectives of the three-phase contact line and of the kinetics of contact line motion is given. Arguments are made that advancing and receding are discrete events that have different activation energies. That hysteresis can be quantified as an activation energy by the changes in interfacial area is argued. That this is an appropriate way of viewing hysteresis is demonstrated with examples.
authors.affiliation: Polymer Science and Engineering Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA.
authors.forename: Lichao
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: McCarthy