Students are presented with a short lesson on the difference between cohesive forces (the forces that

hold water molecules together and create surface tension) and adhesive forces (the forces that causes
water to "stick" to solid surfaces. The interaction between cohesive forces and adhesive forces causes
the well-known capillary action. Students are also introduced to examples of capillary action found in
nature and in our day-to-day lives.This engineering curriculum meets Next Generation Science Standards
(NGSS).

Engineering Connection
Many industrial processes depend on the accurate measurement of surface tension. When an object is
painted or coated, the coating surface tension must be carefully maintained to produce the desired
thickness without creating uneven patches. The strength and effectiveness of detergents are also partially
determined by surface tension. One accurate method of measuring surface tension is through capillary
action. The height water rises in a thin tube is related to the surface tension of the climbing liquid. Besides
providing a method for measuring surface tension, capillary action itself has many different applications.
Capillary action in part determines the behavior of ground water in the soil, which makes it important to
civil and environmental engineers in understanding the stability of buildings and roads as well as the
environmental impact of human development. Petroleum engineers use their understanding of capillary
action in the extraction of crude oil from its rock reservoirs. And, understanding capillary action in the
transport of fluids in animals is important in biomedical engineering.

Pre-Req Knowledge
A basic understanding of cohesive forces (attraction of liquid molecules to each other) and surface
tension.

Learning Objectives
After this lesson, students should be able to:

 Describe the differences between cohesive and adhesive forces.

 Explain how a meniscus is formed.
 Describe how the combination of adhesive and cohesive forces causes water to rise in a thin tube or
other small space (capillary action).
 Explain how capillary action is used.

More Curriculum Like This

Wetting and Contact Angle

High School Lesson

Measuring Surface Tension

High School Activity
Surface Tension Basics
High School Lesson

Surfactants: Helping Molecules Get Along

Elementary Lesson

Educational Standards
NGSS: Next Generation Science Standards - Science
International Technology and Engineering Educators Association - Technology
Suggest an alignment not listed above

Introduction/Motivation
(In advance, have handy a glass of water, food dye/coloring, and white paper towels, to use as described
below.)
(Hold up a beaker or glass of water colored with food dye.) Imagine you've been outside during a hot July
day. You come inside and pour a big glass of water. (Place glass on counter top.) Now let's say you start
talking to your parents or a brother or sister and... (knock the glass over to spill some of the water with
food dye.) What are you going to do now? (Expect someone to suggest using a paper towel to clean it
up.)
(Place one edge of a white paper towel into the colored water spill. Let the water climb into the paper
towel while you talk.) Will someone in front who can see what is happening to the towel describe it for
those in the back? (Expect a student to describe how the color is creeping up the towel.) Why is this
happening? (Give students some time to answer. Expect a student to mention the spaces or holes in the
towel.) Good. What else can you think of that has holes and absorbs water? (Various answers are
possible. One example is a sponge).

The ability of paper towels to absorb liquids is an

example of capillary action.
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(Lift the paper towel out of the liquid and show the class how the liquid has climbed.) What if I tried to do
this with a plastic bag, would that absorb the water? Why not? Let's list some materials that can absorb
and some that cannot. We'll see what each group have in common. (With students' help, create two lists
and look for the similarities within each group and the differences between them.)
One very accurate method of measuring surface tension is through capillary action, since the height water
rises in a thin tube is related to the surface tension of the climbing liquid. For many industrial processes,
an accurate measurement of surface tension important — such as when painting or coating an object
(coating a pan with oil from a spray can, applying solder to form electrical connections on a circuit board,
applying ink using inkjet printing, aircraft painting, etc.), so the surface tension of the coating is carefully
maintained to produce the desired thickness without creating any uneven patches. The strength and
effectiveness of detergents are also partially determined by surface tension.
Besides providing a method for measuring surface tension, capillary action itself has many different
applications. Can you think of any examples of capillary action in the real-world? (Take suggestions from
students.) What about: cleaning with a sponge, how the soil in your yard absorbs rain water, wax rising up
a wick, or how your T-shirt gets wet when you sweat? What about some applications that engineers might
be involved with? Well, capillary action in part determines the behavior of ground water in the soil, which
makes it important to civil and environmental engineers in understanding the stability of buildings and
roads as well as the environmental impact of human development. Petroleum engineers use their
understanding of capillary action in the extraction of crude oil from its rock reservoirs. And, understanding
capillary action in the transport of fluids in animals is important in biomedical engineering.
We've already learned about surface tension and the forces that hold water drops together. Today we are
going to discuss why water sticks to other things and even climbs up some objects. We will see that these
phenomena provide us with a method of accurately measuring surface tension.

Lesson Background and Concepts for Teachers

Cohesive and Adhesive Forces

Figure 1. Within the body of water, cohesive forces acting on a water

molecule pull in all directions and so cancel out. On the water's surface, the cohesive forces pull the water
molecule inwards.
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In any liquid, intermolecular forces cause the liquid molecules to be attracted to each other. These forces
that pull liquid molecules towards each other are known as "cohesive" forces. In the body of a liquid, a
molecule is surrounded by other molecules in all directions, so the attractive forces cancel and the
molecule feels no overall force (see Figure 1). On the surface of the liquid/air interface, however, a
molecule of the liquid feels the attractive forces of the other molecules from within the liquid, but none
from the outside. This causes the outer layer of the liquid to act like a stretched membrane and minimize
the surface area. We call this elastic membrane-like behavior surface tension.
 Figure 2. The adhesive forces between the water and the glass
cause water molecules to cling to the glass walls and create the well-known shape of the meniscus.
copyright
Besides cohesive forces, "adhesive" forces also exist; they cause water molecules to try to "stick," or
"adhere," to solid surfaces. The most common example of the effect of adhesive forces is the meniscus
that is commonly seen when using graduated cylinders. The water molecules respond to an attractive
"adhesive" force pulling them towards the glass walls. Near the walls of the cylinder, the adhesive force
pulling the water towards the glass walls is stronger than the cohesive force pulling the water molecules
together. This attractive force pulls the water up the sides of the glass tube against the downwards pull of
gravity (see Figure 2).

Figure 3. Different than water, mercury creates

a meniscus that is bowed upward.
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Conversely, liquid mercury is repelled rather than attracted to glass. The mercury tries to minimize its
contact with the glass walls. This causes an upward bowing of the mercury liquid against the downwards
pull of gravity as it tries to maximize the contact between mercury atoms and minimize the contact with
the glass wall (see Figure 3).
Capillarity is the combined effect of cohesive and adhesive forces that causes water and other liquids to
rise in thin tubes or other constricted spaces. Inside a thin glass tube, the adhesive force, the attraction
between the water and the glass wall, draws water up the sides of the glass tube to form a meniscus. The
cohesive force, the attraction of the water molecules to each other, then tries to minimize the distance
between the water molecules by pulling the bottom of the meniscus up against the force of gravity.

Figure 4. Water rises to different heights, depending on the diameter of the

capillary tube.
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In large-diameter tubes, this rise in the water level is unnoticeable. However, in very small-diameter
tubes, the cohesive forces can draw the water upwards appreciable distances (see Figure 4). The water
continues to climb up the tube until the downward force of gravity on the water equals the upwards force
caused by the surface tension.

Figure 5. The height, h, that water will rise due to capillary action is related
to the contact angle, θ, and the radius of the tube, a.
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A simple relationship determines how far the water is pulled up the tube (see Figure 5). The force
upwards due to the surface tension is given by the following relationship:

In this relationship, γ is the liquid-air surface tension at 20o C, 2πa is the circumference of the tube, and θ
is the contact angle of water on glass, a measure of the attraction of the liquid to the walls. The opposing
force down is given by the force of gravity on the water that is pulled above the reservoir level.

Here, ρ = 1000 kg/m 3 is the density of water, g = 9.8 m/s2 is the acceleration due to gravity, and (hπa2) is
the volume of the water in the column above the reservoir.
Measuring Surface Tension
One method to measure the surface tension of a liquid is to measure the height the liquid rises in a
capillary tube. By setting the two forces above equal, we find the surface tension to be:

For pure water and clean glass, the contact angle is nearly zero. In a typical high school lab, this may not
be the case, but θ is small and we assume that cos θ is close to 1.

Note that students must convert ρ, g, a and h into SI units before entering them into the equation. The SI
unit for surface tension is J/m 2 (or N/m).
The accepted value of the surface tension of water in air at 20o C is γ = 0.073 J/m2. However, you must
use pure water and extremely clean glass to get this result. Usually, the measured surface tension is at
least half of this number.

Vocabulary/Definitions
meniscus: The convex or concave upper surface of a column of liquid, the curvature of which is caused
by surface tension. (plural: menisci) Source: Dictionary.com.
surface tension: The property of the surface of a liquid that allows it to resist an external force. This
property is caused by cohesion of like molecules and explains many of the behaviors of liquids. Source:
Wikipedia, May 2011.

Associated Activities
 Exploring Capillary Action - Students observe glass-water menisci and explain the shape in terms of
adhesive forces. Using capillary tubes, they see water climbing due to capillary action. Then, teams
design and test "capillary siphons" that can be used to filter water.
 Measuring Surface Tension - Students use capillary action to measure surface tension. They find
the average surface tension and calculate the statistical error.

Assessment
Pre-Lesson Assessment
Discussion Questions: Ask the students and discuss as a class:

 Who can remind the class what we have already learned about surface tension?
 When you water a plant, no matter where in the pot you pour in the water, the water reaches all of
the roots. How does it do this?
 Why does a paper towel absorb water, while a piece of plastic does not?
Post-Introduction Assessment
Problems to Check for Understanding: Ask students to work individually (or in pairs or small groups) to
answer the following two problems. Review and discuss answers as a class (or have students compare
answers) in order to gauge their level of understanding before moving on to conduct the associated lab
activity.

1. Estimate, in cm, how high water will reach by capillary action if the tube is the diameter of a human
hair, 150μm (1.5 x 10-4 m), if we assume the surface tension of water in air is 0.073 J/m 2. (Answer:
19.86 cm. See solution if necessary.)
2. Explain in 3-4 short sentences why water is able to move up a thin tube.
Lesson Summary Assessment / Homework
Expand on What You Have Learned: Either in class or at home, assign students to investigate a real-life
example of capillarity in action. Use the examples mentioned in the Introduction/Motivation section or
others provided by the teacher. Require that each student prepare a poster and/or three-minute class
presentation that includes at least four pictures to illustrate the example, and answers to the following
questions:

1. How would you describe your capillarity example?

2. Why is your topic an example of capillarity?
3. What are the practical uses or effects of your example?

References
Adamson, Arthur W., et al. Physical Chemistry of Surfaces. New York, NY: Wiley, 1997, p. 16-19.
Brown, Theodore, et al. Chemistry: The Central Science. 9th edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Education, Inc., 2003. (General information on surface tension and capillary action.)
JRank Science & Philosophy Science Encyclopedia. "Capillary Action." Science.jrank.org. Accessed June
2010. http://science.jrank.org/pages/1182/Capillary-Action.html
Mike. "Tree Physics 1: Capillary Action, the Height of Trees, and the Optimal Placement of Branches."
Posted July 2009. Npand.wordpress.com. Accessed August 2009. (Derivation of water height in capillary
tubes). http://npand.wordpress.com/2008/08/05/tree-physics-1/
Robinson, Clay. "Capillary Action." Last updated January 27, 2009. Accessed August 2009. (Includes
discussion of capillary action in soil). http://www.wtamu.edu/~crobinson/SoilWater/capillar.html
Smith, S. E. "What is Capillary Action?" Accessed June 2010. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-capillary-
action.htm
Stein, Becky. "Capillary Action." Last updated August 8, 2009. Chemwiki.ucdavis.edu. Accessed July
2010.
http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Physical_Chemistry/Physical_Properties_of_Matter/Intermolecular_Forces/C
ohesive_And_Adhesive_Forces/Capillary_Action

Contributors
Jean Stave, Durham Public Schools, NC; Chuan-Hua Chen, Mechanical Engineering and Material
Science, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University

Copyright
© 2013 by Regents of the University of Colorado; original © 2010 Duke University

Supporting Program
NSF CAREER Award and RET Program, Mechanical Engineering and Material Science, Pratt School of
Engineering, Duke University

Acknowledgements
This digital library content was developed under an NSF CAREER Award (CBET- 08-46705) and an RET
supplement (CBET-10-09869). However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policies of the
National Science Foundation, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.
Last modified: April 26, 2017

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