Critical conditions for the wetting of soils

Shirtcliffe, NJ, McHale, G, Newton, MI ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4231-1002, Pyatt, FB and Doerr, SH, 2006. Critical conditions for the wetting of soils. Applied Physics Letters, 89 (9). ISSN 0003-6951

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Abstract

The wettability of soil is of great importance for plants and soil biota and in determining whether flooding and soil erosion will occur. The analysis used in common measurements of soil hydrophobicity makes the assumption that water always enters soils if the average contact angle between the soil and water is 90° or lower; these tests have been used for decades. The authors show theoretically and experimentally that water cannot enter many soils unless the contact angle is considerably lower than this, down to approximately 50°. This difference generates serious errors in determining and modeling soil wetting behavior.

Item Type:	Journal article
Description:	Post-print
Publication Title:	Applied Physics Letters
Creators:	Shirtcliffe, N.J., McHale, G., Newton, M.I., Pyatt, F.B. and Doerr, S.H.
Publisher:	American Institute of Physics
Place of Publication:	Melville, NY
Date:	2006
Volume:	89
Number:	9
ISSN:	0003-6951
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1063/1.2339072 DOI
Rights:	Copyright ©2006 American Institute of Physics.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	EPrints Services
Date Added:	09 Oct 2015 10:33
Last Modified:	09 Jun 2017 13:33
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/14691

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