A note on the capillary rise of water in soils

Very diverse views are expressed on the height to which water can rise in soils under the forces of capillarity. Alway and MacDole in the course of a brief historical review, point out that these estimates range from two or three feet only, to as much as two or three kilometres, although the majority do not exceed 200 feet. Most of the investigators who advance a high value for the capillary rise are careful to point out that in all probability the movement of water in this case would be exceedingly slow, owing to the excessive friction in the minute capillary spaces. Actual experiments on the rise of water in tubes of compacted soil result in low values, which are in all probability exceeded in the field. Warington in his book Physical Properties of Soil gives a typical table showing the results of Loughridgeb for Californian soils.