system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: When water climbs up on a dry thread or cloth, where does the potential energy comes from?
gpt
Like 2 magnets pulling on each other, water molecules pull one another up the dry cloth. This energy, comes from the slightly electronegative or slightly electropositive side of the water molecule. So a water molecule, like the typical North South magnets you see, are sort of the same. Where one side is positive or north and the other side negative or south.

The same positive/negative sides also causes water to attach itself to the molecules in the cloth. This is called adhesion. Water attracting other water molecules is called cohesion.

So again, like the 2 magnets, the potential energy comes from the tendency for 2 molecules attracting each other. Once attached, energy would be needed to seperate the two again and place them in their original position so as to follow the law of conservation of energy.