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Washburn's equation

In physics, Washburn's equation describes capillary flow in porous materials.


It is

L^2=\frac{\gamma Dt}{4\eta}

where t is the time for a liquid of viscosity η and surface tension γ to penetrate a distance L into a fully wettable, porous material whose average pore diameter is D.

The equation is derived for capillary flow in a cylindrical tube in the absence of a gravitational field, but according to physicist Len Fisher can be extremely accurate for more complex materials including biscuits (see dunk (biscuit)). Following National biscuit dunking day , some newspaper articles quoted the equation as Fisher's equation.



07-14-2008 23:18:10
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