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Investigating Factors Affecting Level of Capillary Action

This document summarizes an experiment investigating factors that affect capillary action. The experiment varies liquid density, capillary tube diameter, and liquid temperature to determine their relationship to the height that liquid rises in a capillary tube. Initial results found that liquid rises highest in the smallest diameter tubes and higher density liquids rise less than lower density liquids. Warmer liquids also increased the rise height. Further experiments are planned to systematically vary temperature for different liquids and tube diameters, plotting the results to quantify the relationships between the factors and derive the governing equation.

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Alexander Chen
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497 views

Investigating Factors Affecting Level of Capillary Action

This document summarizes an experiment investigating factors that affect capillary action. The experiment varies liquid density, capillary tube diameter, and liquid temperature to determine their relationship to the height that liquid rises in a capillary tube. Initial results found that liquid rises highest in the smallest diameter tubes and higher density liquids rise less than lower density liquids. Warmer liquids also increased the rise height. Further experiments are planned to systematically vary temperature for different liquids and tube diameters, plotting the results to quantify the relationships between the factors and derive the governing equation.

Uploaded by

Alexander Chen
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Investigating Factors Affecting Level of Capillary Action

In this investigation, we will be looking into the effect of varying three factors on the level of rise
of liquid in capillary tubes. We vary density of liquid, diameter of capillary tube and temperature
of liquid in order to ascertain the relationship between these factors and the height of the liquid
risen in the capillary tube. These are the questions that we will be hoping to answer:
Do any of these factors affect the level of rise in liquid?
Does volume of liquid or depth of tube within liquid have an effect on capillary action?
Can we quantify these relationships?
Background Physics
Capillary action describes the ability of a liquid to flow up a narrow tube, without the presence of
external forces other than gravity. It is caused by intermolecular forces between the liquid and
the solid, which lead to the combination of cohesion between the molecules in the liquid and
adhesion between the liquid and the walls of the container. The adhesion to the walls of the
container produces a force upwards, while the cohesion within the liquid keeps the surface of the
liquid intact, producing the meniscus shape at the top of the column. There is a formula for the
height of the column:

where γ is the liquid-air surface tension, θ is the contact angle, ρ is the density of
liquid, g is the acceleration due to gravity and r is the radius of tube.

List of Apparatus
1) Beakers
2) Kettle
3) Ice cubes
4) Capillary tubes (Diameter 0.6,0.8,1.0 mm)
5) Clamp Stand with 3 clamps
6) Micrometer
Method
First, I filled beakers with 100ml of three liquids of varying densities, ethanol, water, and
saturated salt solution in water. Having coloured these with food colouring, so that I can easily
see the top of the column of liquid in the capillary tube, I placed three capillary tubes into the
liquid, such that the bottom of each tube was at a fixed depth. These three tubes were taped
together so that the bottoms of each tube were aligned. Capillary action happens very quickly, so
the maximal rise of the liquid is quickly achieved. I’d then mark the level of each liquid in the
tube on the tube, and work out a distance travelled by column of liquid from that.
Initially, I tried using golden syrup as a liquid of high density, but in these cases, capillary action
means the level of liquid inside the capillary tube is lower than the level of liquid outside of the
tube. This is hard to measure, so I changed to using salt solution, which is still denser than water
but capillary action is visible.
I also attempted a set up in which I’d lower three capillary tubes into the three beakers at the
same time. This required a set-up of putting clamps on other clamps, and adjusting accordingly
so that all three tubes were aligned. This proved to be harder than using the three tubes tied
together, which provides instant clues into the effect of diameter, since the tubes are next to each
other and easily comparable.

Risk Assessment
Capillary tubes are made of glass and so can shatter and snap, which can create loose fragments
and shards of glass, as well as sharp ends. They are also tubes so they can roll off tables easily.
Extra care must be taken when handling them.
In order to vary temperature, we need to use ice cubes and cold water as well as boiling water.
Ice cubes can be slippery if dropped on the floor, which could cause pretty serious slipping.
Handling boiling water also requires care because it can cause burns, and beakers holding hot
water need to be handled with a cloth.
Beakers need to be labelled, as this experiment uses ethanol of high purity, which poses a threat
should anyone accidentally drink it- the food colouring does make the liquid look rather
refreshing. Therefore, large labels are necessary on all the beakers.
Experiments
Initial:
Testing with the three capillary tubes tied together, it was very clear that in all three liquids, the
liquid would rise highest in the tube with the smallest diameter.
It was then found that liquids with higher density would rise relatively lower than less dense
liquids. This was obvious since placing the tubes in ethanol would lead to a higher rise than in
water, by comparing the markings on each tube.
Initial temperature tests with hot water showed that it seems warmer liquid also increases the
maximal height of the liquid in the capillary tube.
Planned:
I plan to start from hot water and place the capillary tubes into the liquid at regular intervals of
different temperatures, each time marking where the liquid rises to. Then, plot these heights for
the three different liquids for each of the three capillary tubes. Hopefully, this will shed some
light onto the nature of the relationship between these factors, and with some dimensional
analysis we will try to derive the equation above. Factors to be controlled during these
experiments will include: volume of liquid, wind speed above top of capillary tube, depth of tube
in the liquid.
Summary
If possible, I would like to extend this project by looking at the effect of wind speed, which is
relevant to capillary action in trees during transpiration. Furthermore, looking at different angles
of contact between the liquid and the tube, or looking at the rate of uptake during capillary
action may be interesting pursuits that are related to this experiment.

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