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Capillary action of water (polar) compared to mercury (non-polar), in each case with respect to a polar surface such as glass (≡Si–OH). Capillary action (sometimes called capillarity, capillary motion, capillary rise, capillary effect, or wicking) is the process of a liquid flowing in a narrow space without the assistance of external forces like gravity.
Capillary rise or fall in a tube. Jurin's law, or capillary rise, is the simplest analysis of capillary action—the induced motion of liquids in small channels [1] —and states that the maximum height of a liquid in a capillary tube is inversely proportional to the tube's diameter.
Electrocapillary phenomena are phenomena related to changes in the surface free energy (or interfacial tension) of charged fluid interfaces, for example that of the dropping mercury electrode (DME), or in principle, any electrode, as the electrode potential changes or the electrolytic solution composition and concentration change.
In physics, the Young–Laplace equation (/ l ə ˈ p l ɑː s /) is an algebraic equation that describes the capillary pressure difference sustained across the interface between two static fluids, such as water and air, due to the phenomenon of surface tension or wall tension, although use of the latter is only applicable if assuming that the wall is very thin.
Surface tension is an important factor in the phenomenon of capillarity. Surface tension has the dimension of force per unit length, or of energy per unit area. [4] The two are equivalent, but when referring to energy per unit of area, it is common to use the term surface energy, which is a more general term in the sense that it applies also to ...
Water potential is the potential energy of water per unit volume relative to pure water in reference conditions. Water potential quantifies the tendency of water to move from one area to another due to osmosis, gravity, mechanical pressure and matrix effects such as capillary action (which is caused by surface tension).
The investigations in capillarity stem back as far as Leonardo da Vinci, however the idea of capillary length was not developed until much later. Fundamentally the capillary length is a product of the work of Thomas Young and Pierre Laplace. They both appreciated that surface tension arose from cohesive forces between particles and that the ...
An interesting phenomena, capillary rise of water (as pictured to the right) provides a good example of how these properties come together to drive flow through a capillary tube and how these properties are measured in a system. There are two general equations that describe the force up and force down relationship of two fluids in equilibrium.