Contact electrification between solids is often explained qualitatively in terms of the relative positions of the materials in the triboelectric series. It is shown that the series can be put on a quantitative basis by analysing data for the wetting, by suitable probe liquids, of individual solid surfaces. In one approach to solid surface energies the polar fraction can be split into contributions from Lewis acid (electron-acceptor) and base (electron-donor) components. Using data for solid surface energy components in the literature it is shown that there is a good correlation between the electron-donor surface tension parameter and the position of the solid in the triboelectric series.