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Rise of Liquid in a Capillary Tube

Rise of Liquid in a Capillary Tube

When very thin cylindrical tubes, called capillaries, are dipped in a liquid, the liquid rises or falls in the tube compared to the surrounding liquid. This phenomenon is called capillary action. Capillary action occurs due to the combination of two opposing forces: the cohesive forces of the liquid, which cause it to stick to itself and form a rounded shape, and the adhesive forces between the liquid and the walls of the container, which cause the liquid to be attracted to the container walls.

Capillarity in Fluid

Capillarity in Fluid

Capillarity describes the movement of liquid in small spaces without external forces acting on it. The capillarity is driven by surface tension and adhesive interactions between the liquid and surrounding solid surfaces. This effect is often seen in narrow tubes, porous materials, and fine particles.
Surface tension is crucial to capillarity. It results from cohesive forces between liquid molecules at the liquid-air boundary, forming a skin that resists external forces. When the capillary tube...

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Surface Tension, Capillary Action, and Viscosity

Surface Tension
The various IMFs between identical molecules of a substance are examples of cohesive forces. The molecules within a liquid are surrounded by other molecules and are attracted equally in all directions by the cohesive forces within the liquid. However, the molecules on the surface of a liquid are attracted only by about one-half as many molecules. Because of the unbalanced molecular attractions on the surface molecules, liquids contract to form a shape that minimizes the number...

Surface Tension of Fluid

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Surface tension is a fundamental property of fluids, occurring at the boundary between a liquid and a gas or between two immiscible liquids. This phenomenon arises from the cohesive forces between molecules at the fluid's surface, creating an effect similar to a stretched elastic membrane. Inside each fluid, molecules are equally attracted in all directions by neighboring molecules, but surface molecules experience a net inward force, resulting in surface tension.
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Excess Pressure Inside a Drop and a Bubble

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The shape of a small drop of liquid can be considered spherical, neglecting the effect of gravity. This drop can further be considered as two equal hemispherical drops put together due to surface tension. The forces acting on the spherical drop are due to the pressure of the liquid inside the drop, the pressure due to air outside the drop, and the force due to the surface tension acting on the two hemispherical drops.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 26, 2025

Film Control to Study Contributions of Waves to Droplet Impact Dynamics on Thin Flowing Liquid Films

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Published on: August 18, 2018

Nanoscale Elastocapillary Effect Induced by Thin-Liquid-Film Instability.

Nandi Vrancken^1,2,3, Tanmay Ghosh^1,4, Utkarsh Anand^1,4,5

¹Centre for BioImaging Sciences and Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117557, Singapore.

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

|March 19, 2020

Summary

Researchers discovered a new cause of nanostructure collapse during drying: thin-liquid-film instability. This finding is crucial for improving nanofabrication processes for high-aspect-ratio (HAR) nanostructures.

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Area of Science:

Materials Science
Nanotechnology
Surface Science

Background:

High-aspect-ratio (HAR) vertical nanostructures are critical for advanced technologies like microelectronics and photovoltaics.
Capillary-induced aggregation during nanofabrication is a major challenge, hindering the production of dense nanostructure arrays.
Current understanding of solution-nanostructure interactions during drying is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the real-time dynamics of the drying process in HAR silicon nanopillars.
To identify the underlying mechanisms of pattern collapse and nanostructure aggregation.
To reveal overlooked factors contributing to elastocapillary aggregation.

Main Methods:

Utilized in situ liquid cell transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for real-time observation.
Tracked the nanoscale drying dynamics of HAR silicon nanopillars.
Analyzed the forces driving nanopillar deflection and aggregation.

Main Results:

Identified thin-liquid-film instability as a primary driver of nanopillar aggregation during drying.
Demonstrated that this instability leads to stronger capillary interactions than previously assumed lateral meniscus forces.
Revealed a new dynamic mechanism for pattern collapse in HAR nanostructures.

Conclusions:

Thin-film instability is a critical, previously overlooked factor in elastocapillary aggregation during nanofabrication.
Understanding this mechanism is essential for developing robust processes to prevent nanostructure collapse.
The findings pave the way for improved manufacturing of dense HAR nanostructure arrays.