Capillary action

Capillary action (sometimes called capillarity, capillary

motion, capillary rise, capillary effect, or wicking) is the
process of a liquid flowing in a narrow space without the
assistance of, or even in opposition to, any external forces like
gravity.

The effect can be seen in the drawing up of liquids between the

hairs of a paint-brush, in a thin tube such as a straw, in porous
Capillary water flow up a 225 mm-
materials such as paper and plaster, in some non-porous materials high porous brick after it was placed
such as sand and liquefied carbon fiber, or in a biological cell.
in a shallow tray of water. The time
elapsed after first contact with water
It occurs because of intermolecular forces between the liquid and
is indicated. From the weight
surrounding solid surfaces. If the diameter of the tube is
increase, the estimated porosity is
sufficiently small, then the combination of surface tension (which
25%.
is caused by cohesion within the liquid) and adhesive forces
between the liquid and container wall act to propel the liquid.

Etymology
Capillary comes from the Latin word capillaris, meaning "of or
resembling hair." The meaning stems from the tiny, hairlike
diameter of a capillary.

History
The first recorded observation of capillary action was by Leonardo
da Vinci.[1][2] A former student of Galileo, Niccolò Aggiunti, was
said to have investigated capillary action.[3] In 1660, capillary
action was still a novelty to the Irish chemist Robert Boyle, when
he reported that "some inquisitive French Men" had observed that
when a capillary tube was dipped into water, the water would
Capillary action of water (polar)
ascend to "some height in the Pipe". Boyle then reported an
compared to mercury (non-polar), in
experiment in which he dipped a capillary tube into red wine and
each case with respect to a polar
then subjected the tube to a partial vacuum. He found that the
surface such as glass (≡Si–OH)
vacuum had no observable influence on the height of the liquid in
the capillary, so the behavior of liquids in capillary tubes was due
to some phenomenon different from that which governed mercury barometers.[4]

Others soon followed Boyle's lead.[5] Some (e.g., Honoré Fabri,[6] Jacob Bernoulli[7]) thought that
liquids rose in capillaries because air could not enter capillaries as easily as liquids, so the air pressure
was lower inside capillaries. Others (e.g., Isaac Vossius,[8] Giovanni Alfonso Borelli,[9] Louis Carré,[10]
Francis Hauksbee,[11] Josia Weitbrecht[12]) thought that the particles of liquid were attracted to each
other and to the walls of the capillary.
Although experimental studies continued during the 18th century,[13] a successful quantitative
treatment of capillary action[14] was not attained until 1805 by two investigators: Thomas Young of
the United Kingdom[15] and Pierre-Simon Laplace of France.[16] They derived the Young–Laplace
equation of capillary action. By 1830, the German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss had
determined the boundary conditions governing capillary action (i.e., the conditions at the liquid-solid
interface).[17] In 1871, the British physicist Sir William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin) determined the
effect of the meniscus on a liquid's vapor pressure—a relation known as the Kelvin equation.[18]
German physicist Franz Ernst Neumann (1798–1895) subsequently determined the interaction
between two immiscible liquids.[19]

Albert Einstein's first paper, which was submitted to Annalen der Physik in 1900, was on
capillarity.[20][21]

Phenomena and physics

Capillary penetration in porous media shares its dynamic
mechanism with flow in hollow tubes, as both processes are
resisted by viscous forces.[22] Consequently, a common apparatus
used to demonstrate the phenomenon is the capillary tube. When
the lower end of a glass tube is placed in a liquid, such as water, a
concave meniscus forms. Adhesion occurs between the fluid and
the solid inner wall pulling the liquid column along until there is a
sufficient mass of liquid for gravitational forces to overcome these
intermolecular forces. The contact length (around the edge)
between the top of the liquid column and the tube is proportional Moderate rising damp on an internal
to the radius of the tube, while the weight of the liquid column is wall
proportional to the square of the tube's radius. So, a narrow tube
will draw a liquid column along further than a wider tube will,
given that the inner water molecules cohere sufficiently to the
outer ones.

Examples
In the built environment, evaporation limited capillary
penetration is responsible for the phenomenon of rising damp in
concrete and masonry, while in industry and diagnostic medicine
this phenomenon is increasingly being harnessed in the field of Capillary flow experiment to
paper-based microfluidics.[22] investigate capillary flows and
phenomena aboard the International
In physiology, capillary action is essential for the drainage of Space Station
continuously produced tear fluid from the eye. Two canaliculi of
tiny diameter are present in the inner corner of the eyelid, also
called the lacrimal ducts; their openings can be seen with the naked eye within the lacrymal sacs when
the eyelids are everted.

Wicking is the absorption of a liquid by a material in the manner of a candle wick. Paper towels
absorb liquid through capillary action, allowing a fluid to be transferred from a surface to the towel.
The small pores of a sponge act as small capillaries, causing it to absorb a large amount of fluid. Some
textile fabrics are said to use capillary action to "wick" sweat away from the skin. These are often
referred to as wicking fabrics, after the capillary properties of candle and lamp wicks.

Capillary action is observed in thin layer chromatography, in which a solvent moves vertically up a
plate via capillary action. In this case the pores are gaps between very small particles.

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.

In hydrology, capillary action describes the attraction of water molecules to soil particles. Capillary
action is responsible for moving groundwater from wet areas of the soil to dry areas. Differences in
soil potential ( ) drive capillary action in soil.

A practical application of capillary action is the capillary action siphon. Instead of utilizing a hollow
tube (as in most siphons), this device consists of a length of cord made of a fibrous material (cotton
cord or string works well). After saturating the cord with water, one (weighted) end is placed in a
reservoir full of water, and the other end placed in a receiving vessel. The reservoir must be higher
than the receiving vessel. A related but simplified capillary siphon only consists of two hook-shaped
stainless-steel rods, whose surface is hydrophilic, allowing water to wet the narrow grooves between
them.[23] Due to capillary action and gravity, water will slowly transfer from the reservoir to the
receiving vessel. This simple device can be used to water houseplants when nobody is home. This
property is also made use of in the lubrication of steam locomotives: wicks of worsted wool are used to
draw oil from reservoirs into delivery pipes leading to the bearings.[24]

In plants and animals

Capillary action is seen in many plants, and plays a part in transpiration. Water is brought high up in
trees by branching; evaporation at the leaves creating depressurization; probably by osmotic pressure
added at the roots; and possibly at other locations inside the plant, especially when gathering
humidity with air roots.[25][26][27]

Capillary action for uptake of water has been described in some small animals, such as Ligia
exotica[28] and Moloch horridus.[29]

Height of a meniscus

Capillary rise of liquid in a capillary

The height h of a liquid column is given by Jurin's law[30]

where is the liquid-air surface tension (force/unit length), θ is the contact angle, ρ is the density of
liquid (mass/volume), g is the local acceleration due to gravity (length/square of time[31]), and r is the
radius of tube.
As r is in the denominator, the thinner the space in which the
liquid can travel, the further up it goes. Likewise, lighter liquid
and lower gravity increase the height of the column.

For a water-filled glass tube in air at standard laboratory

conditions, γ = 0.0728 N/m at 20 °C, ρ = 1000 kg/m3, and
g = 9.81 m/s2. Because water spreads on clean glass, the effective
equilibrium contact angle is approximately zero.[32] For these
values, the height of the water column is Water height in a capillary plotted
against capillary diameter

Thus for a 2 m (6.6 ft) radius glass tube in lab conditions given above, the water would rise an
unnoticeable 0.007 mm (0.00028 in). However, for a 2 cm (0.79 in) radius tube, the water would rise
0.7 mm (0.028 in), and for a 0.2 mm (0.0079 in) radius tube, the water would rise 70 mm (2.8 in).

Capillary rise of liquid between two glass plates

The product of layer thickness (d) and elevation height (h) is constant (d·h = constant), the two
quantities are inversely proportional. The surface of the liquid between the planes is hyperbola.

Water between two glass plates

Liquid transport in porous media

When a dry porous medium is brought into contact with a liquid, it will absorb the liquid at a rate
which decreases over time. When considering evaporation, liquid penetration will reach a limit
dependent on parameters of temperature, humidity and permeability. This process is known as
evaporation limited capillary penetration [22] and is widely observed in common situations including
fluid absorption into paper and rising damp in concrete or masonry walls. For a bar shaped section of
material with cross-sectional area A that is wetted on one end, the cumulative volume V of absorbed
liquid after a time t is
where S is the sorptivity of the medium, in units of m·s−1/2 or
mm·min−1/2. This time dependence relation is similar to
Washburn's equation for the wicking in capillaries and porous
media.[33] The quantity

Capillary flow in a brick, with a

sorptivity of 5.0 mm·min−1/2 and a
porosity of 0.25.
is called the cumulative liquid intake, with the dimension of
length. The wetted length of the bar, that is the distance between
the wetted end of the bar and the so-called wet front, is dependent on the fraction f of the volume
occupied by voids. This number f is the porosity of the medium; the wetted length is then

Some authors use the quantity S/f as the sorptivity.[34] The above description is for the case where
gravity and evaporation do not play a role.

Sorptivity is a relevant property of building materials, because it affects the amount of rising
dampness. Some values for the sorptivity of building materials are in the table below.

Sorptivity of selected materials

(source:[35])
Sorptivity
Material
(mm·min−1/2)
Aerated concrete 0.50
Gypsum plaster 3.50

Clay brick 1.16

Mortar 0.70
Concrete brick 0.20

See also
Bond number – Dimensionless number in fluid dynamics
Bound water – Thin layer of water surrounding mineral surfaces.
Capillary fringe – Subsurface layer in which groundwater seeps up from a water table by capillary
action
Capillary pressure – Pressure between two fluids from forces between the fluids and tube walls
Capillary wave – Wave on the surface of a fluid, dominated by surface tension
Capillary bridges – Minimised surface of liquid commecting two wetted objects
Damp proofing – Type of moisture control in building construction
Darcy's law – Equation describing the flow of a fluid through a porous medium
Frost flower – Thin layer of ice extruded from a plant
Frost heaving – Upwards swelling of soil during freezing
 Hindu milk miracle – 1995 alleged miracle incidents
Krogh model
Porosimetry – Measurement and characterization of the porosity of a material
Needle ice – Ice column formed when liquid groundwater rises into freezing air
Surface tension – Tendency of a liquid surface to shrink to reduce surface area
Washburn's equation – Equation describing the penetration length of a liquid into a capillary tube
with time
Young–Laplace equation – Describing pressure difference over an interface in fluid mechanics

References
1. See:
Manuscripts of Léonardo de Vinci (Paris), vol. N, folios 11, 67, and 74.
Guillaume Libri, Histoire des sciences mathématiques en Italie, depuis la Renaissance des
lettres jusqu'a la fin du dix-septième siecle [History of the mathematical sciences in Italy, from
the Renaissance until the end of the seventeenth century] (Paris, France: Jules Renouard et
cie., 1840), vol. 3, page 54 (https://archive.org/details/histoiredesscie01librgoog/page/n407)
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20161224132312/https://books.google.com/books?id=P
E8IAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA54) 2016-12-24 at the Wayback Machine. From page 54: "Enfin, deux
observations capitales, celle de l'action capillaire (7) et celle de la diffraction (8), dont jusqu'à
présent on avait méconnu le véritable auteur, sont dues également à ce brillant génie."
(Finally, two major observations, that of capillary action (7) and that of diffraction (8), the true
author of which until now had not been recognized, are also due to this brilliant genius.)
C. Wolf (1857) "Vom Einfluss der Temperatur auf die Erscheinungen in Haarröhrchen" (On the
influence of temperature on phenomena in capillary tubes) Annalen der Physik und Chemie,
101 (177) : 550–576; see footnote on page 551 (https://books.google.com/books?id=H17kAAA
AMAAJ&pg=PA551) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20140629020351/http://books.goo
gle.com/books?id=H17kAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA551) 2014-06-29 at the Wayback Machine by
editor Johann C. Poggendorff. From page 551: " ... nach Libri (Hist. des sciences math. en
Italie, T. III, p. 54) in den zu Paris aufbewahrten Handschriften des grossen Künstlers
Leonardo da Vinci (gestorben 1519) schon Beobachtungen dieser Art vorfinden; ... " ( ...
according to Libri (History of the mathematical sciences in Italy, vol. 3, p. 54) observations of
this kind [i.e., of capillary action] are already to be found in the manuscripts of the great artist
Leonardo da Vinci (died 1519), which are preserved in Paris; ... )
2. More detailed histories of research on capillary action can be found in:
David Brewster, ed., Edinburgh Encyclopaedia (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Joseph and
Edward Parker, 1832), volume 10, pp. 805–823 (https://books.google.com/books?id=xQ0bAQ
AAMAAJ&pg=PA805) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20161224134213/https://books.g
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Maxwell, James Clerk; Strutt, John William (1911). "Capillary Action" (https://en.wikisource.or
g/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Capillary_Action). In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.).
Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 256–275.
John Uri Lloyd (1902) "References to capillarity to the end of the year 1900," (https://books.go
ogle.com/books?id=OWBBAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA102) Archived (https://web.archive.org/we
b/20141214101739/http://books.google.com/books?id=OWBBAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA102)
2014-12-14 at the Wayback Machine Bulletin of the Lloyd Library and Museum of Botany,
Pharmacy and Materia Medica, 1 (4) : 99–204.
3. In his book of 1759, Giovani Batista Clemente Nelli (1725–1793) stated (p. 87) that he had "un
libro di problem vari geometrici ec. e di speculazioni, ed esperienze fisiche ec." (a book of various
geometric problems and of speculation and physical experiments, etc.) by Aggiunti. On pages 91–
92, he quotes from this book: Aggiunti attributed capillary action to "moto occulto" (hidden/secret
motion). He proposed that mosquitoes, butterflies, and bees feed via capillary action, and that sap
ascends in plants via capillary action. See: Giovambatista Clemente Nelli, Saggio di Storia
Letteraria Fiorentina del Secolo XVII ... [Essay on Florence's literary history in the 17th century, ...
] (Lucca, (Italy): Vincenzo Giuntini, 1759), pp. 91–92. (https://books.google.com/books?id=MV1YA
AAAcAAJ&pg=PA91) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20140727023400/http://books.google.
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4. Robert Boyle, New Experiments Physico-Mechanical touching the Spring of the Air, ... (Oxford,
England: H. Hall, 1660), pp. 265–270. Available on-line at: Echo (Max Planck Institute for the
History of Science; Berlin, Germany) (http://echo.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/ECHOdocuView?start=291
&resultStart=11&viewLayer=search&url=/permanent/archimedes_repository/large/boyle_exper_01
3_en_1660/index.meta&pn=297&queryType=fulltextMorph) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/
20140305085036/http://echo.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/ECHOdocuView?start=291&resultStart=11&vie
wLayer=search&url=%2Fpermanent%2Farchimedes_repository%2Flarge%2Fboyle_exper_013_e
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5. See, for example:
Robert Hooke (1661) An attempt for the explication of the Phenomena observable in an
experiment published by the Right Hon. Robert Boyle, in the 35th experiment of his Epistolical
Discourse touching the Air, in confirmation of a former conjecture made by R. Hooke.
[pamphlet].
Hooke's An attempt for the explication ... was reprinted (with some changes) in: Robert Hooke,
Micrographia ... (London, England: James Allestry, 1667), pp. 12–22, "Observ. IV. Of small
Glass Canes." (https://books.google.com/books?id=SgFMAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA12) Archived (htt
ps://web.archive.org/web/20161224125720/https://books.google.com/books?id=SgFMAAAAc
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Geminiano Montanari, Pensieri fisico-matematici sopra alcune esperienze fatte in Bologna ...
(https://books.google.com/books?id=5_dbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA3) Archived (https://web.archive.
org/web/20161229061900/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=5_dbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA3)
2016-12-29 at the Wayback Machine [Physical-mathematical ideas about some experiments
done in Bologna ... ] (Bologna, (Italy): 1667).
George Sinclair, Ars Nova et Magna Gravitatis et Levitatis (https://books.google.com/books?id
=844_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PP5) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20171103050207/https://bo
oks.google.com/books?id=844_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PP5) 2017-11-03 at the Wayback Machine
[New and great powers of weight and levity] (Rotterdam, Netherlands: Arnold Leers, Jr., 1669).
Johannes Christoph Sturm, Collegium Experimentale sive Curiosum [Catalog of experiments,
or Curiosity] (Nüremberg (Norimbergæ), (Germany): Wolfgang Moritz Endter & the heirs of
Johann Andreas Endter, 1676). See: "Tentamen VIII. Canaliculorum angustiorum recens-
notata Phænomena, ... " (https://books.google.com/books?id=nbMWAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA44)
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20140629034844/http://books.google.com/books?id=nb
MWAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA44) 2014-06-29 at the Wayback Machine (Essay 8. Recently noted
phenomena of narrow capillaries, ... ), pp. 44–48.
 6. See:
Honorato Fabri, Dialogi physici ... ((Lyon (Lugdunum), France: 1665), pages 157 ff (https://boo
ks.google.com/books?id=jY4_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA157) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2
0161224130147/https://books.google.com/books?id=jY4_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA157) 2016-12-24
at the Wayback Machine "Dialogus Quartus. In quo, de libratis suspensisque liquoribus &
Mercurio disputatur. (Dialogue four. In which the balance and suspension of liquids and
mercury is discussed).
Honorato Fabri, Dialogi physici ... ((Lyon (Lugdunum), France: Antoine Molin, 1669), pages
267 ff (https://books.google.com/books?id=zRJ2rQs730QC&pg=PA267) Archived (https://web.
archive.org/web/20170407062538/https://books.google.com/books?id=zRJ2rQs730QC&pg=P
A267) 2017-04-07 at the Wayback Machine "Alithophilus, Dialogus quartus, in quo nonnulla
discutiuntur à D. Montanario opposita circa elevationem Humoris in canaliculis, etc."
(Alithophilus, Fourth dialogue, in which Dr. Montanari's opposition regarding the elevation of
liquids in capillaries is utterly refuted).
7. Jacob Bernoulli, Dissertatio de Gravitate Ætheris (https://books.google.com/books?id=sHw5AAAA
cAAJ&pg=PP11) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20170407062110/https://books.google.co
m/books?id=sHw5AAAAcAAJ&pg=PP11) 2017-04-07 at the Wayback Machine (Amsterdam,
Netherlands: Hendrik Wetsten, 1683).
8. Isaac Vossius, De Nili et Aliorum Fluminum Origine [On the sources of the Nile and other rivers]
(Hague (Hagæ Comitis), Netherlands: Adrian Vlacq, 1666), pages 3–7 (https://books.google.com/
books?id=FjoVAAAAQAAJ&q=ascendit&pg=PA3) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2017040
7062352/https://books.google.com/books?id=FjoVAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA3) 2017-04-07 at the
Wayback Machine (chapter 2).
9. Borelli, Giovanni Alfonso De motionibus naturalibus a gravitate pendentibus (Lyon, France: 1670),
page 385, Cap. 8 Prop. CLXXXV (Chapter 8, Proposition 185.). Available on-line at: Echo (Max
Planck Institute for the History of Science; Berlin, Germany) (http://echo.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/EC
HOdocuView?highlightQuery=CLXXXV&viewLayer=dict%2Csearch&url=/permanent/archimedes_
repository/large/borel_demot_010_la_1670/index.meta&highlightElement=s&highlightElementPos
=2&pn=385&queryType=fulltextMorph) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20161223092633/ht
tp://echo.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/ECHOdocuView?highlightQuery=CLXXXV&viewLayer=dict%2Cse
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10. Carré (1705) "Experiences sur les tuyaux Capillaires" (http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3487x/f
409.image) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20170407064612/http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/
bpt6k3487x/f409.image) 2017-04-07 at the Wayback Machine (Experiments on capillary tubes),
Mémoires de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, pp. 241–254.
11. See:
Francis Hauksbee (1708) "Several Experiments Touching the Seeming Spontaneous Ascent of
Water," (https://books.google.com/books?id=qlZOAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA260) Archived (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20140629071158/http://books.google.com/books?id=qlZOAQAAIAAJ&pg=P
A260) 2014-06-29 at the Wayback Machine Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of
London, 26 : 258–266.
Francis Hauksbee, Physico-mechanical Experiments on Various Subjects ... (London,
England: (Self-published), 1709), pages 139–169.
Francis Hauksbee (1711) "An account of an experiment touching the direction of a drop of oil
of oranges, between two glass planes, towards any side of them that is nearest press'd
together," (http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ucm.5324351053;view=1up;seq=437;start=1;siz
e=10;page=search;num=374#view=1up;seq=437) Philosophical Transactions of the Royal
Society of London, 27 : 374–375.
Francis Hauksbee (1712) "An account of an experiment touching the ascent of water between
two glass planes, in an hyperbolick figure," (http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ucm.53243510
53;view=1up;seq=437;start=1;size=10;page=search;num=541#view=1up;seq=589)
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 27 : 539–540.
12. See:
Josia Weitbrecht (1736) "Tentamen theoriae qua ascensus aquae in tubis capillaribus
explicatur" (https://books.google.com/books?id=O1o-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA265) Archived (https://
web.archive.org/web/20140629063553/http://books.google.com/books?id=O1o-AAAAcAAJ&p
g=PA265) 2014-06-29 at the Wayback Machine (Theoretical essay in which the ascent of
water in capillary tubes is explained), Commentarii academiae scientiarum imperialis
Petropolitanae (Memoirs of the imperial academy of sciences in St. Petersburg), 8 : 261–309.
Josias Weitbrecht (1737) "Explicatio difficilium experimentorum circa ascensum aquae in tubis
capillaribus" (https://books.google.com/books?id=vR3oAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA275) Archived (http
s://web.archive.org/web/20141105061249/http://books.google.com/books?id=vR3oAAAAMAA
J&pg=PA275) 2014-11-05 at the Wayback Machine (Explanation of difficult experiments
concerning the ascent of water in capillary tubes), Commentarii academiae scientiarum
imperialis Petropolitanae (Memoirs of the imperial academy of sciences in St. Petersburg), 9 :
275–309.
13. For example:
In 1740, Christlieb Ehregott Gellert (1713–1795) observed that like mercury, molten lead would
not adhere to glass and therefore the level of molten lead was depressed in a capillary tube.
See: C. E. Gellert (1740) "De phenomenis plumbi fusi in tubis capillaribus" (On phenomena of
molten lead in capillary tubes) Commentarii academiae scientiarum imperialis Petropolitanae
(Memoirs of the imperial academy of sciences in St. Petersburg), 12 : 243–251. Available on-
line at: Archive.org (https://archive.org/stream/commentariiacade12impe#page/242/mode/2up)
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20160317040309/https://archive.org/stream/commentari
iacade12impe) 2016-03-17 at the Wayback Machine.
Gaspard Monge (1746–1818) investigated the force between panes of glass that were
separated by a film of liquid. See: Gaspard Monge (1787) "Mémoire sur quelques effets
d'attraction ou de répulsion apparente entre les molécules de matière" (https://archive.org/stre
am/histoiredelacad87hist#page/506/mode/1up) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/201603
16110932/https://archive.org/stream/histoiredelacad87hist) 2016-03-16 at the Wayback
Machine (Memoir on some effects of the apparent attraction or repulsion between molecules
of matter), Histoire de l'Académie royale des sciences, avec les Mémoires de l'Académie
Royale des Sciences de Paris (History of the Royal Academy of Sciences, with the Memoirs of
the Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris), pp. 506–529. Monge proposed that particles of a
liquid exert, on each other, a short-range force of attraction, and that this force produces the
surface tension of the liquid. From p. 529: "En supposant ainsi que l'adhérence des molécules
d'un liquide n'ait d'effet sensible qu'à la surface même, & dans le sens de la surface, il seroit
facile de déterminer la courbure des surfaces des liquides dans le voisinage des parois qui les
conteinnent; ces surfaces seroient des lintéaires dont la tension, constante dans tous les sens,
seroit par-tout égale à l'adhérence de deux molécules; & les phénomènes des tubes
capillaires n'auroient plus rein qui ne pût être déterminé par l'analyse." (Thus by assuming that
the adhesion of a liquid's molecules has a significant effect only at the surface itself, and in the
direction of the surface, it would be easy to determine the curvature of the surfaces of liquids
in the vicinity of the walls that contain them; these surfaces would be menisci whose tension,
[being] constant in every direction, would be everywhere equal to the adhesion of two
molecules; and the phenomena of capillary tubes would have nothing that could not be
determined by analysis [i.e., calculus].)
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See, for example, Alexis Claude Clairaut (1713–1765) Theorie de la Figure de la Terre tirée des
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Further reading
de Gennes, Pierre-Gilles; Brochard-Wyart, Françoise; Quéré, David (2004). Capillarity and
Wetting Phenomena. Springer New York. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-21656-0 (https://doi.org/10.100
7%2F978-0-387-21656-0). ISBN 978-1-4419-1833-8.

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