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Lab. #1, Experiment #2. Fluid Properties: Viscosity.

Author: Carlos Canelo.


Partners: Zachary Bucker, Eyana Cain, Keefe Kriskovich, B. Patrick Wheeler.
Date performed: 1/29/2015.
Date submitted: 2/5/2015.
Objective: The objective of this experiment is to measure the viscosity of a liquid using a falling sphere through a viscous
fluid.
Theory: A sphere falling through a fluid eventually reaches a constant terminal velocity. If this velocity is low enough the
forces acting on said sphere can be described by:
Weight - Buoyancy - Drag = 0
The above expression for drag is only valid if:

=>

sg (4/3) R3 - g(4/3)R3 - 6VR = 0


VD/ < 1

(1)

(2)

Procedure:
Equipment:
-

Large clear cylinder with attached scale.


Suave Ocean Breeze liquid soap.
Digital Calipers.
Chrome/Steel ball bearings.
Cellphone with stopwatch application.

Experiment:
-

Three different sizes of Chrome/Steel ball bearings were selected and their diameters measured.
The density of Chrome/Steel was obtained. [490 lb/ft3]
Suave Ocean Breeze liquid soap was selected as the fluid to conduct this lab.
The density of Suave Ocean Breeze liquid soap was obtained. [63.768 lb/ft3]
The temperature of the fluid was recorded. [23.5 C]
Ball bearings of each size were dropped through the center of the cylinder to determine the depth at which
they reached terminal velocity.
The initial point of measurement was chosen at 0.1 ft below the maximum depth previously established.
The total distance d in which the falling ball bearings were timed was set. [0.9 ft]
Starting by the biggest size, the bearings were dropped through the center of the cylinder and the time it took
them to fall the d distance was recorded.
An average time for each size bearings was calculated.
Using the average time and the known distance d the average velocity was calculated.
Solving equation (1) for and using the average velocity values for each size of ball bearings three values
for were calculated.
Equation (2) was checked for each value of .

Results:

Diameters:

Bearing #1 = 0.0314 ft.

Bearing #2 = 0.0261 ft.

Bearing #3 = 0.0211 ft.

Discussion and Conclusion:


The dynamic viscosity of a liquid can be successfully calculated by dropping a sphere through said liquid and
measuring its velocity. However, the accuracy of the results greatly depends on the precision of the measurements.
The factors that may have contributed to the discrepancies between the calculated results are:
1.)
2.)
3.)
4.)

The precision of the instruments.


Parallax of the observer. (This was reduced by keeping eye level with the bearing as it fell)
The time it took for the observer to notify the timekeeper to start/stop the stopwatch.
The reaction time of the timekeeper.

Questions:
1.) Using equation (1) and solving for V we can observe that the velocity changes with the size of the
sphere. Therefore two spheres of different diameter will have different terminal velocities.
2

g R ( s )
V=
6
2.) The viscosity is an intensive property of the fluid so it is not dependent of the object going through
it.
3.) In theory, yes. However, the extremely high degree of precision required to perform this experiment
with gases makes it impractical.
4.) Yes. But a different method to locate the exact position of the bearings would have to be devised.
Maybe by magnetic means.
5.) In theory, yes. However the weight of the sphere would have to be too big to make this method
practical.
6.) For the error analysis the data set for Bearing #2 will be used:

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