SL38: Retention of Water: Basics of Soil-Water Relationships - Part II
Figure 1. Water is pulled up into a capillary when the capillary is placed in water; the thinner the capillary, the higher the rise. This illustrates that small pores in unsaturated soil retain more water than large pores. In turn, it is more difficult to remove water from small pores than from large pores.
