Wetting agent

See Water Tension Breaker.<br><br>A substance that reduces the surface tension of a liquid, causing the liquid to spread across or penetrate more easily the surface of a solid, making anything that is water-soluble more quickly solved. Detergents and soaps generally accomplish this in order to penetrate surfaces to clean them. A wetting agent traditionally used in watercolor painting is oxgall. Modern synthetic wetting agents most recommended for art applications are often available from art supply dealers and from photographic and general chemical supply dealers in bottle, dropper-bottle, and aerosol forms.Also see aqueous, caustic, clean up, consistency, hazardous, miscible, solvent, vehicle, viscosity, and volatile.