Is Hydrogen Bonding the Sole Factor Affecting Viscosity and Surface Tension?

[Kracatoan]

Just given in my physics Coursework and I wanted to see what you lot thought about my rather interesting results.

Basically, I compared the vicosity and surface tension of both water and glycerol through a series of tests and was rather surprised at what I found. According to my results (and data books when I checked), water has a higher surface tension than glycerol, but glycerol is more viscous than water.

Everything I have read on the internet and heard from Chemistry teachers is that both viscosity and surface tension are directly proportional to the amount of hydrogen bonds a molecule has, but obviously that cannot be the whole truth.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[Borek]

Everything I have read on the internet and heard from Chemistry teachers is that both viscosity and surface tension are directly proportional to the amount of hydrogen bonds a molecule has, but obviously that cannot be the whole truth.

In short - all other things being equal the more hydrogen bonds, the higher the surface tension and viscosity. But obviously water and glycerol are too different for such a simple rule to be effective.

 

[chemisttree]

Polyethylene has almost no hydrogen bonding but is so much thicker than both.