Lab Manual

Experiment : To determine the co-efficient of viscosity of four

different liquid by falling sphere resistance method using
stokes law

Submitted by- Abhishek kumar Mishra
Abhishek Pathak
Anurag Bajpai
Pooja Singh
Prachi Gupta
Juhi Tyagi



Object : To determine the co-efficient of viscosity of four
different liquid by falling sphere resistance method using
stokes law

Apparatus Required : Cylindrical tube ( length = 75 cm ,
diameter = 5 cm ) , stopwatch
Theory : This method on based on stokes law , according to
which the drag force , F on a small sphere moving wth a
constant velocity , U through a viscous fluid of viscosity, for a
viscous condition is given by
F = 3Ud
Where , d = diameter of sphere
U = velocity of sphere
When the sphere attain a constant velocity U , the drag force is
the difference between the weight of sphere and buoyant force
acting on it .
Let L = distance travelled by the sphere in viscous fluid ,
T = time taken by sphere to cover distance l ,

s
= density of sphere

f
= density of fluid
W = weight of sphere
and F
a
= buoyant force acting on the liquid
then constant velocity of sphere , U = L/t
weight of liquid , W = volume*density of sphere*g
= (/6)*d
3
*
s
*g
And buoyant force F
b
= weight of fluid displaced
= vol. of liquid displaced*density of fluid*g
= (/6)*d
3
*
f
*g
For equilibrium,
Drag force = weight of sphere buoyant force
F = W - F
b

Substituting the value of F , W and F
b
, we get

= gd
3
*[
s

f
]/18U
hence from above equations the value of d ,U ,
s
and
f
are
known and hence the viscosity of liquid can be determined .

Method : Thus this method consists of a tall vertical
transparent cylindrical tank , which is filled with a liquid whose
viscosity is to be determined . This tank is surrounded by
another transparent tank to keep the temperature of the liquid
in the cylindrical tank to be constant .
A spherical ball of diameter d is placed on the surface of liquid
. Provision is made to release this ball .After a short distance of
travel , the ball attains a constant velocity . time to travel a
known vertical distance between two fixed marks on the
cylinder tank is noted to calculate the constant velocity U of the
ball . Then with the known values of d ,
s
,
f
the viscosity of
the fluid is calculated using the equation
= g*d
3
*[
s

f
]/18U

Observations : d = diameter of sphere =

s
= density of sphere =

f
= density of fluid =