The apparent surface free energy of yellow and orange samples of sulfur crystallized at the surface of gold, silicon, and Teflon and in air was evaluated from the advancing and receding contact angles of water. The samples were prepared by casting melted rhombic mineralogical specimen sulfur onto the surface of the above-noted solids. Yellow samples were obtained when just melted sulfur (ca. 120 degrees C) was cast onto the surfaces, and the orange ones, when the melted sulfur was heated longer to a higher temperature (ca. 160 degrees C) and then cast onto the surfaces. The obtained results show that the apparent surface free energy depends on which surface it crystallized. The greatest value is for the sample crystallized at the gold surface, which is 35% higher than that crystallized in air. Generally, the surface free energy of orange samples is slightly higher than that of yellow ones. It is believed that the differences in the energy result from changes in the packing and structural orientation of sulfur atoms on the surfaces. (C) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.