Abstract
IN Poggendorf's Annalen for 1877, and in the Philosophical Magazine for 1880, I have recorded some facts which are satisfactorily explicable only on the supposition that the liquid in contact with the glass undergoes condensation upon the surface of the latter. In the latter paper I was able to show that this condensed film visibly altered the resistance experienced by the liquid in flowing through the tube. In the paper in the Poggendorff's Annalen it was shown that a difference of potential was set up between the two ends of a capillary tube through which water was forced, and that the effect of leaving the water in contact with the tube was that this difference of potential rapidly diminished. No doubt this finds its explanation in the effect of the condensation of the liquid on the sides of the capillary tube, causing the friction of the water against the tube to become less and less, whilst the friction of the water upon the condensed water-film becomes progressively greater, as the latter adheres more strongly to the glass. Probably simple drying would suffice to restore to the tube the originally observed difference of potential between its ends.
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CLARK, J. THE CONDENSATION OF LIQUID FILMS ON WETTED SOLIDS . Nature 27, 370–371 (1883). https://doi.org/10.1038/027370a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/027370a0