Capillary cohesion and mechanical strength of polydisperse granular materials

F Soulié1, M S El Youssoufi, F Cherblanc

  • 1LMGC, UMR 5508, Université Montpellier 2, Place Eugène Bataillon, cc048, 34095, Montpellier Cedex 5, France. soulie@lmgc.univ-montp2.fr

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Adhesion occurs when one type of molecule is attracted to a different molecule. Water exhibits adhesive properties in the presence of polar surfaces, such as glass or cellulose in plants. For instance, when water is poured into a glass, the positively charged hydrogen molecules of water are more attracted to the negatively charged oxygen molecules in the silica than to the oxygen in neighboring water molecules.
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