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Why does paper towels absorb water?In: Chemistry
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Water will soak into a paper towel if any part of the paper touches the water, just as it will climb up a thin tube if an open end of the tube is in water. Water behaves this way because of an effect called capillary action. Capillary action happens when bonding of a liquid's molecules to themselves is less than the attraction to another substance the molecules are touching.
It is because water is a polar molecule, ie it has a positive charge at one and and a negative charge at the other.
Paper is made of cellulose which has many hydrogen bonds, which is to say the molecule has many hydrogen atoms sticking out of it which are positively charged. The negative ends of the water molecules are attracted to them. i am soo bored
Check out Wikipedia.org, "The World's Encyclopedia"
Here are some pages about it (They are also listed in the Related Links below. )
polar molecules >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_molecules
cellulose >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulose
It is because water is a polar molecule, ie it has a positive charge at one and and a negative charge at the other.
Paper is made of cellulose which has many hydrogen bonds, which is to say the molecule has many hydrogen atoms sticking out of it which are positively charged. The negative ends of the water molecules are attracted to them. i am soo bored
Check out Wikipedia.org, "The World's Encyclopedia"
Here are some pages about it (They are also listed in the Related Links below. )
polar molecules >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_molecules
cellulose >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulose
First answer by Gaines Fox. Last edit by Bg6598. Contributor trust: 0 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 9 [recommend question].
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