How does capillary action differ in water and mercury?
Water is a liquid that wets glass capillary tubes; mercury is one that does not. When wetting does not occur, capillarity does not occur. Capillarity is the result of surface, or interfacial, forces.
What is capillary action explain capillary fall in mercury?
Capillary action draws ink to the tips of fountain pen nibs from a reservoir or cartridge inside the pen. With some pairs of materials, such as mercury and glass, the intermolecular forces within the liquid exceed those between the solid and the liquid, so a convex meniscus forms and capillary action works in reverse.
Why does mercury go down in capillaries?
Water makes an acute angle of contact with glass, so it rises while mercury makes an obtuse angle of contact with glass , so it falls in a capillary tube.
How does capillary action work with water?
Capillary action helps bring water up into the roots. But capillary action can only “pull” water up a small distance, after which it cannot overcome gravity. To get water up to all the branches and leaves, the forces of adhesion and cohesion go to work in the plant’s xylem to move water to the furthest leaf.
Why do water rise in the capillaries?
Water rises inside the capillary tube due to adhesion between water molecules and the glass walls of the capillary tube. This adhesion, together with surface tension in the water, produces an effect called capillarity , with a characteristic concave surface.
What happened to the water level in the capillary tube?
The rising of water in a tube against gravitation or against the weight of water is known as capillary rise. Was this answer helpful?
What is capillary rise of water?
DEFINITION: A rise in a liquid above the level of zero pressure due to a net upward force produced by the attraction of the water molecules to a solid surface, e.g. glass, soil (for those cases where the adhesion of the liquid to the solid is greater than the cohesion of the liquid to itself)
Why does water go up a capillary tube?
Why does water move up a capillary tube when the tube is dipped into a container of water?
When the lower end of a vertical glass tube is placed in a liquid, a concave meniscus forms. Adhesion forces between the fluid and the solid inner wall pull the liquid column up until there is a sufficient mass of liquid for gravitational forces to counteract these forces.
What is an example of the capillary action of water?
Examples of capillary action include the uptake of water in paper and plaster (two porous materials), the wicking of paint between the hairs of a paintbrush, and the movement of water through sand.
Why water can easily move in capillaries?
Water can easily rise in the capillaries due to high surface tension and high adhesive and cohesive force.
How does water rise up a capillary tube?