A new approach for the limit to tree height using a liquid nanolayer model

Henri Gouin (1)

1 IUSTI - Institut universitaire des systèmes thermiques industriels

Liquids in contact with solids are submitted to intermolecular forces inferring density gradients at the walls. The van der Waals forces make liquid heterogeneous, the stress tensor is not any more spherical as in homogeneous bulks and it is possible to obtain stable thin liquid films wetting vertical walls up to altitudes that incompressible fluid models are not forecasting. Application to micro tubes of xylem enables to understand why the ascent of sap is possible for very high trees like sequoias or giant eucalyptus.

Mots clés: Nanofilms; inhomogeneous liquids; van der Waals forces; ascent of sap; high trees

Domaines: Biochimie, Biologie Moléculaire; Matière Molle [cond-mat.soft]; Botanique; Chimie-Physique [physics.chem-ph]

Henri Gouin. A new approach for the limit to tree height using a liquid nanolayer model. Continuum Mechanics and Thermodynamics, 2008, 20 (5), pp.317-329. ⟨10.1007/s00161-008-0084-y⟩. ⟨hal-00323328⟩