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Found in: Page 395

### College Physics (Urone)

Book edition 1st Edition
Author(s) Paul Peter Urone
Pages 1272 pages
ISBN 9781938168000

# Could capillary action be used to move fluids in a “weightless” environment, such as in an orbiting space probe?

Yes, there can be capillary action used to move fluids in a “weightless” environment, such as in an orbiting space probe.

See the step by step solution

## Step 1: Conceptual Introduction

Fluid statics, often known as hydrostatics, is a branch of fluid mechanics that investigates the state of balance of a floating and submerged body, as well as the pressure in a fluid, or imposed by a fluid, on an immersed body.

## Step 2: Define the Capillarity effect

Capillary action is the propensity of a fluid to be elevated or inhibited in a thin tube, or capillary tube.

When a capillary tube is inserted vertically into a liquid, as seen in capillary action, the liquid inside the tube will rise or fall depending on the mix of components. The actual effect is determined on the relative strength of the cohesive and adhesive forces, as well as the contact angle ${\mathbit{\theta }}$ . The fluid will be elevated if ${\mathbit{\theta }}$is less than 90o, and repressed if theta is larger than 90º.

Capillary action can transport liquids over long distances horizontally, but the height to which it can elevate or suppress a liquid in a tube is limited by its weight.

This height h may be proven to be provided by

${\mathbit{h}}{\mathbf{=}}\frac{\mathbf{2}\mathbf{\gamma }\mathbf{c}\mathbf{o}\mathbf{s}\mathbf{\theta }}{\mathbf{\rho }\mathbf{g}\mathbf{d}}$

The capillarity is calculated by this formula

## Step 3: Capillarity effect in space

In a weightless environment, capillary action may be exploited to transfer fluids. There is no force to inhibit the capillary action in circling space since there is no gravity.

When the full volume of fluids has been pushed up, or the fluid reaches the opposite end of the tube, capillary action will come to a halt.

Therefore, yes there can be capillary action used to move fluids in a “weightless” environment, such as in an orbiting space probe.