Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-topics-in-fluid-mechanics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2009/1/i/solution

Hydrostatic pressure varies with height as when the far flat bath is the zero-height reference. Surface tension balances that pressure jump by curvature; with the curvature sign chosen in the equation this becomes . Here is liquid mass density, gravitational acceleration, surface tension and the signed planar curvature. The capillary length balances these effects. Scale both physical and by to obtain
For the wall-rising meniscus decreases as rises. At the distant bath, , and , because the free surface becomes horizontal when expressed as . In the first integral this gives .
At zero wall contact angle the interface is tangent to the vertical wall. In the representation this means and , so . The rising contact point is . Put . Then . Integration from the contact point gives
The sign of is negative on the approach from below, while is positive, as required by the geometry. This local quadratic shape is the zero-contact-angle wall meniscus matching law.

New to topics? Read the docs here!