15 Featured Capillary Examples

Capillarity, a characteristic of liquids, is the phenomenon that causes the surface of a fluid that comes in contact with a solid body to rise or fall. Besides that it can wet or not the element in question.

This property depends on the surface tension of the liquid. This tension provides a resistance to the object moving into contact with the liquid. The surface tension is related to the cohesion of the fluid we are observing.

Examples of capillarity

Depending on the surface tension that is in that moment, the liquid can go up or down the capillary tube. That is why it is known as capillarity.

The less cohesion of the liquid molecules, the fluid adheres to the new body that comes in contact with it.

It is said that then the liquid moistens to the new body and ascends by the conduit. The ascent will continue until the surface tension is balanced.

Featured examples of capillarity

Surface tension insects

Some insects can walk through the water, this is because the weight of the insect is compensated by the resistance of the water to be deformed.

Glass capillary tube

If we introduce a glass tube into a container with water, the water level will rise through the tube.

If we introduce a tube of larger diameter, the water will stay at a lower level. The surface of the liquid will be left with a concave shape called a meniscus

Capillary tube in mercury

If we introduce a capillary tube in the mercury, the level of this one will rise by the tube but to a less extent than the water.

In addition its surface will present a convex curvature of inverted meniscus

Surface tension sheets

As with insects, the surface tension that is created causes the leaf or some flowers to float in the water without sinking, even though their weight is greater than that of water

Feeding plants

Through the phenomenon of capillarity, plants extract water from the soil and transport it to its leaves.

Through the plant's capillary tubes, nutrients rise to reach all parts of the plant.

Soaring sap in the trees

The sap ascends along the tree thanks to the capillarity process. The ascent is due to the evaporation of the liquid in the leaves causing a negative pressure in the xylem, causing the sap to rise through the action of capillarity. It can reach a height of 3 km of ascent.

With a paper napkin

If we place a paper napkin that touches the surface of the water and leaves the container, by the process of capillarity the water can move through the napkin coming out of the container.

Water transfer

Just as we can make the liquid out of the container, as in the previous example, if we connect two containers through an absorbent material such as a paper napkin, the water from one container will pass to the other.

Detergents and soaps on water

There are some detergents and soaps that have chemical compounds that cause them to deposit on the water and the surface tension prevents them from sinking.

Ascending water on the ground

The capillarity of some soils causes the water to rise through the ground to exceed the water table even though it is a movement contrary to gravity.

Humidity on walls

The capillarity of some walls causes the water to seep into them and enter the houses.

This causes that in the houses there is greater concentration of molecules of water in the air what is known like humidity.

Dipping cookies

When in the breakfast we wet the cookies in the milk, the action of the capillarity causes that milk enters in the cookie increasing in this way the liquid capacity of the same one.

As the milk moves up the cookie, it undoes the cohesive forces of the solid and that is why the cookie is broken.

Butter candles

If we take a piece of butter and stick a wick and light it with a match, it will burn.

However the butter that is in contact with the oxygen of the air does not burn. This happens because the capillarity of the candle allows the melted butter to rise through the wick and function as a combustion fuel.

Sugar cubes

The capillarity of the sugar lumps causes that if we put them in contact with a liquid, such as water, the lumps absorb it so that they retain the liquid inside them.

If the liquid is in a higher concentration than the sugar lump, it can cause the cohesive forces of the same to break.

Capillarity with flowers

To observe the phenomenon of capillarity that occurs in plants, we can submerge the stem of a flower in a container with a colorant.

Through the capillarity of the flower, the water will ascend to its petals and will change the color of the same.

Capillarity of the lands

For water to rise to the surface of a land, the land must be porous. The more porous the terrain, the water grip forces will be lower, so the water will seep more.

For example, sand and gravel land being more porous drain water quickly, while clay soils, water does not drain and form puddles because the pores are much smaller

References

  1. Peiris M.G.C., Tenmakone K.. Rate of rise of a liquid in a capillary tube. J. Phys. 48 (5) May 1980, pp. 415
  2. ROWLINSON, John Shipley; WIDOM, Benjamin. Molecular theory of capillarity . Courier Corporation, 2013.
  3. DE GENNES, Pierre-Gilles; BROCHARD-WYART, Françoise; QUERÉ, David. Capillarity and wetting phenomena: drops, bubbles, pearls, waves . Springer Science & Business Media, 2013.
  4. MULLINS, William W. Flattening of a nearly plane solid surface due to capillarity. Journal of Applied Physics , 1959, vol. 30, no. 1, p. 77-83.
  5. MAYAGOITIA, V.; KORNHAUSER, I. Adsorption and Capillarity Potential. In Memories of the VI Congress of the National Academy of Engineering . 1980. p. 238-242.
  6. RUIZ, VICENTE PAZ. The teaching of biology in preschool and primary through conceptual organizers, a case the concept of plant.


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