We have measured the contact angle of microsized and nanosized alkane droplets partially wetting a model substrate using true noncontact atomic force microscopy. The large range of droplet sizes accessible using this technique allowed us to determine the contact line curvature dependence of the contact angle with unprecedented accuracy. Whereas previous studies aimed at explaining such a dependence by a line tension effect, our results and calculations on a model system exclude such an effect and point to an extreme sensitivity to weak substrate heterogeneities confirmed by numerical simulations.

• Received 22 May 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.186101