Capillarity

Capillarity is when liquids like water or oil move up a very tiny tube or straw, like a magic trick! Imagine you have a really small straw, like the one on your juice box. Now, if you dip the straw into water or juice, you might notice that the liquid starts to climb up the straw all by itself! This happens because of capillarity.

You see, liquids like water or juice have something called surface tension, which is a way of describing how tightly the liquid molecules stick together on the surface. When the straw touches the liquid, the surface tension pulls the liquid up the tube or straw. It’s like a magnetic force that pulls the liquid upward.

Capillarity is also why plants can drink water even though their roots are deep in the soil. The roots have tiny tubes in them, just like the straw. When the tubes touch the water in the soil, the surface tension pulls the water up the tubes and into the plant. So, capillarity is a magical way that nature moves liquid from one place to another!