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University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City
Abstract. The viscosity of canola oil, dishwashing liquid, sugar solutions, and water were determined using a falling ball
viscometer. The viscometer was utilized by measuring the time elapsed for a glass ball to pass a certain length of
liquid in the burette. It was observed that as the fluid viscosity increases, the average ball velocity decreases. The data
obtained from viscometer was used to calculate the viscosities of the water, canola oil, dishwashing liquid, and the
0.1 M, 0.5 M, and 2 M sugar solutions: 0.0058, 0.1103, 9.7544, 0.0043, 0.0046, and 0.0099 Pa-s, respectively. The
calculated data yielded a percent error of 46% for canola oil, 551% for water, 322% for 0.1 M sugar solution, 267%
for 0.5 M sugar solution, and 60% for the 2 M sugar solution when compared with the theoretical data.
Nomenclature
1 Introduction
In most cases, the drag coefficient can be defined
Viscosity is a fluid property that quantifies the by Equation 2 (Wydzial, n.d.). From this equation, the
resistance of a fluid to gradual deformation caused by drag coefficient can easily be calculated because all of
shear or tensile stress. It is a property that measures the the other values are known.
fluid’s resistance to flow; whereas, highly viscous
fluids have high resistance, while less viscous fluids 4g(⍴p − ⍴)Dp
have little to no resistance to motion (Petrucci, 2007). CD = 3⍴V t2
[2]
When an object flows freely through a fluid, it Afterwards, the the drag coefficient can be used to
experiences a net force exerted by the fluid, called the determine the Reynolds number using the Dallavale
drag force. The drag force can be related to the drag equation, as seen in Equation [3].
coefficient, as shown in Equation 1.
4.8 2
F D /S N Re = ( C 0.5
− 0.632
) [3]
CD = 1 2 [1] D
2 ⍴v
ChE 135 Process Engineering Laboratory Formal Report
Dp ⍴
μ = N Re [4]
The top-loading balance was tared while the
graduated cylinder was on top. The water was then Figure 2. Scatter plot of calculated densities of the
poured into the graduated cylinder until the mass was balls based on measured diameter. Raw data can be
40 g. Afterwards, the fluid volume was recorded. The found in Appendix A Table 3.
procedure was repeated for the other fluids. The densities of the fluids were also calculated using
the experimentally determined volume and mass, as
2.3 Liquid viscosity measurements shown in Table 1.
The falling ball viscometer setup was prepared, as
shown in Fig. 1.
ChE 135 Process Engineering Laboratory Formal Report
Table 1. Experimental densities of the fluids used. Telis et al while that of canola oil was obtained from
Sahasrabudhe et al.
Fluid Density (kg/m3)
Table 2. Experimental and literature values for fluid
Water 976.3414 viscosities and their relative deviations. It should be
noted that there are no available literature values for
Canola Oil 891.7778 dishwashing liquid due to P&G’s (the company that
owns Joy Dishwashing Liquid) non disclosure of its
Dishwashing Liquid 1013.75 information.
Sugar Solution (SS) 1 998
Fluid Expt’l Literature %Relative
Sugar Solution (SS) 2 1019.25 Viscosity Viscosity Error
(Pa s) (Pa s)
Sugar Solution (SS) 3 1124
Water 0.0058 0.00089 550.79
It could be observed from Table 1 that the density Canola Oil 0.1103 0.0635 45.91
of the sugar solution increases with sugar
concentration due to an increase in the mass of matter Dishwashing 9.7544 - -
present at constant volume (Sahasrabudhe & Farkas, Liquid
2017).
SS 1 0.0043 0.001 321.51
Aside from the parameters presented in Fig. 2 and
Table 1, the velocities of the spheres as they traverse SS 2 0.0046 0.0013 269.58
the fluid were also recorded and shown in Fig. 3. The
SS 3 0.0099 0.0062 59.67
Reynolds Number was also calculated using equation
2.
Large deviations from literature values were
observed in the experiment, as shown in Table 2,
especially in the case of water, SS 1, and SS 2. This
may due to errors in the time measurement. The
aforementioned liquids have low viscosities relative to
the other fluids in study. This would allow for faster
falling rates and more room for human error since the
stopwatch used in the experiment was manually
operated. Consequently, canola oil and the third sugar
solution, which are both more viscous, exhibited lower
deviations due to slower velocities observed for each
ball.
Figure 3. Scatter plot of calculated velocities and
Reynolds Number for each fluid used. Raw data can be
found in Appendix A Table 4. Aside from human errors previously mentioned, the
existence of air bubbles, especially in the dishwashing
It can be observed from Fig. 3 that only the liquid and canola oil, may have also interfered with the
dishwashing liquid generated a Reynolds Number less obtained results. Generally, the presence of bubbles
than unity which means that it is the only fluid among would decrease the velocity of the falling particle,
all the liquids used where Stoke’s Law could be used. which would result to higher viscosity values. Another
With this, the fluid viscosities were calculated by source of error would be the interaction between the
following Equations 2-4. The resulting average values, ball and the wall of the burette. There were cases
the literature viscosities, and the relative error are where the ball moved sidewards, thereby increasing its
shown in Table 2. Literature value for the sugar interaction with the burette. With these errors, it can be
solutions’ viscosity was obtained from the work of said that free settling was not accurately imitated by
ChE 135 Process Engineering Laboratory Formal Report
1 3672.911683 3.475
2 2176.014186 2.975
3 2733.135131 3.83
4 2933.543911 3.75
5 3149.902801 3.65
Table 4. Calculated average velocities and Reynolds Number for the fluids used.
SS 1 0.321355137 274.8251103
SS 2 0.313019554 272.563701
SS 3 0.246275181 118.164053
ChE 135 Process Engineering Laboratory Formal Report
Water:
2 2
N Re = ( C 0.54.8
−0.632
) = ( 4.8
0.5
1.1181227 −0.632
) = 127.3094141
D
DP v T ρ (0.003475)(0.33507)(976.3414)
μ= N Re
= 127.3094141
= 0.008929714
Spreadsheet Data
Volume,
Ball Mass, g Diameter, mm Density, kg/m3
cm3
SS 1 19.96 20 998
SS 2 40.77 40 1019.25
SS 3 44.96 40 1124
ChE 135 Process Engineering Laboratory Formal Report
Velocities
Dishwashing
Ball Water Canola Oil Liquid SS 1 SS 2 SS 3
Water
Ball Cd Re μ
SS 1
Ball Cd Re μ
SS 2
Ball Cd Re μ
SS 3
Ball Cd Re μ
Canola oil
Ball Cd Re μ
Dishwashing Liquid
Ball Cd Re μ