Force of adhesion upon loss of contact angle hysteresis: when a liquid behaves like a solid.

The theoretically predicted vanishment of the macroscopic contact angle hysteresis is found experimentally along with a small but finite force of adhesion (F(Ad)≈-0.5 μN) that, unexpectedly, is independent of the history of the preload. Our results agree with the prediction of a model in which the surface tension of the liquid provides the counterpart of the restoring force of an elastic solid, evidencing that the dewetting of a liquid in the absence of strong pinning points is equivalent to the detachment of an elastic solid.