Capillary action
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Capillary action is the process of a liquid flowing in a narrow space without the assistance of external forces like gravity.
Capillary water flow up a 225 mm-high porous brick after it was placed in a shallow tray of water. The time elapsed after first contact with water is indicated. From the weight increase, the estimated porosity is 25%.
Moderate rising damp on an internal wall
Capillary flow experiment to investigate capillary flows and phenomena aboard the International Space Station
Water height in a capillary plotted against capillary diameter
Surface tension
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Surface tension is the energy per unit area due to having a surface in a liquid. It has the dimension of force per unit length, or energy per unit area. The two are equivalent, but when referring to e
Capillary action
…of intermolecular forces between the liquid and surrounding solid surfaces. If the diameter of the tube is sufficiently small, then the combination of surface tension (which is caused by cohesion within the liquid) and adhesive forces between the liquid and container wall act to propel the liquid. "Capillary" comes…
Rain water flux from a canopy. Among the forces that govern drop formation: surface tension by cohesion, Van der Waals force, Plateau–Rayleigh instability.
Water droplet lying on a damask. Surface tension is high enough to prevent seeping through the textile
A. Water beading on a leaf
C. Water striders stay at the top of liquid because of surface tension