is this capillary action? what prevents this from being used to produce energy?

Question

i made a cup of coffee by putting a little coffee in a paper filter and putting it in a cup of hot water tea bag style. i left it overnight, about half full, with the top of the filter just hanging over the lip of the cup to keep it from slipping in. as you may have guessed (but to my amazement) the cup had emptied all over my desk by morning.

Answer 1

Yes, it is capillary action. However, there is a limit to capillary action due to gravity. A column of water can be raised in a capillary tube to only a certain height (depending on the diameter of the tube) before the force of its own weight becomes stronger than the capillary action and the movement of the water stops.

Answer 2

Yes, this is capillary action! Water molecules are attracted to the fibres in the filter paper and the water is drawn up.

What's to stop you using this to raise the Potential Energy of water? It wouldn't gain very much though! Can you patent a device to use that tiny gain, or use it on a large scale?

Cheers,
Ben

Answer 3

cool!