capillary
They connect small arteries and veins. This topic is part of Human Body within Science & Nature. This page currently draws on 16 supporting questions, with answers and bonus facts available below.
capillary trivia questions
Capillaries are the body's smallest what?
Answer: Blood vessels
Bonus fact: They connect small arteries and veins.
What happens across capillary walls?
Answer: Exchange of gases, nutrients, and wastes
Bonus fact: Their walls are only one cell layer thick.
Why are capillary walls so thin?
Answer: To allow efficient diffusion
Bonus fact: Short diffusion distances speed exchange with tissues.
Capillary action can make liquid move through a narrow what?
Answer: Tube
Bonus fact: Surface forces can pull liquid against gravity.
Capillary action helps water move through what plant tissue?
Answer: Xylem
Bonus fact: Narrow xylem vessels help transport water upward.
Capillary rise depends strongly on adhesion, cohesion, and what force?
Answer: Surface tension
Bonus fact: Surface tension helps shape the liquid meniscus.
In the lungs, where does oxygen pass into surrounding capillaries?
Answer: Alveoli
Bonus fact: Carbon dioxide moves in the opposite direction, from capillary blood into the alveoli.
What material runs through the center of a candle and is lit to produce a flame?
Answer: Wick
Bonus fact: The wick draws melted wax upward by capillary action.
What physical process draws melted wax up a candle wick?
Answer: Capillary action
Bonus fact: Capillary action pulls liquid wax through tiny spaces between fibers in the wick.
What physical process draws liquid through the wick in some old-fashioned heating devices?
Answer: Capillary action
Bonus fact: Capillary action moves liquid through narrow spaces in porous material.
What physical process draws kerosene upward through a lantern wick?
Answer: Capillary action
Bonus fact: Capillary action moves liquid through the tiny spaces between wick fibers.
Which tiny vessels allow exchange between blood and tissues?
Answer: Capillaries
Bonus fact: Thin capillary walls permit diffusion.