Capillary Action 

Materials 

  • A glass of water
  • An empty glass
  • Some paper towels

Procedure 

  1. Twist a couple of pieces of paper towel together until it forms something that looks a little like a piece of rope, this will be the 'wick' that will absorb and transfer the water (a bit like the wick on a candle transferring the wax to the flame).
  2. Place one end of the paper towels into the glass filled with water and the other into the empty glass.
  3. Watch what happens 

Scientific Theory 

​The water from one glass filled with water gets transferred to the glass without water due to a process called capillary action. The transfer occurs because of the fibre within the paper towel. Water is sticky because of cohesion. The positive and negative charges of the hydrogen and oxygen atoms that make up water molecules makes them attracted to each other. Also, it is due to adhesion because the water is attracted to the paper towel. This process occurs when the adhesion is stronger than the cohesive forces between the liquid molecules