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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 2004  > January  >
Research: Science and Education
Thermodynamics of Capillary Rise: Why Is the Meniscus Curved?
Ulf Henriksson
Department of Physical Chemistry, Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweeden

Jan Christer Eriksson
Department of Surface Chemistry, Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweeden

Cover
January 2004
Vol. 81 No. 1
p. 150
Abstract
The capillary rise (or depression) phenomenon is analyzed thermodynamically with the aim to propose a more transparent pedagogic approach than the mechanical equilibrium picture that is currently standard in most textbooks. The driving force lifting the liquid column in the gravitational field is identified as the surface free energy gained when the liquid wets the inner wall of the capillary. The curving of the meniscus and the accompanied pressure drop across it according to the Young–Laplace equation is a consequence of the constant chemical potential throughout the system at physicochemical equilibrium in the gravitational field. As an illustration we show how meniscus shapes can be calculated numerically for different situations.
More Information
*  Citation
 Henriksson, Ulf; Eriksson, Jan Christer. J. Chem. Educ. 2004 81 150.
*  Keywords
 Liquids; Physical Chemistry; Surface Science; Thermodynamics; Water / Water Chemistry
*  History
 Created:
Last Updated:		 December 8, 2003
February 18, 2005
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