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Do it Yourself Experiment
Phillip Russell
December 16, 2009
MEMT 313-003
Partner(s): Daniel McAfee
Table of Contents
Objective............................................................................... 3
Objective
The purpose of this experiment was to explore the fluid property of surface
tension by comparing a calculated value for two fluids: SAE 30W oil and
water.
ghr
2 cos ( )
Surface tension is dependent upon density (); the denser the fluid is, the
more surface tension there will be. This holds true because density is a
mass
property that is defined by volume . More molecules packed into the same
volume will yield higher forces exerted on those outer surface molecules.
Also, decreasing the volume with the same amount of molecules will increase
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force
length
to units of
energy
area ,
we can see that surface tension also plays a role in how much work can be
done by the liquid. Increased surface tension will lead to an increased area
over a constant area (area of the capillary tubes cross section). If the
capillary tubes cross-sectional area is decreased, while the surface tension is
the same for the liquid, there will be an increase in energy produced by the
liquid.
Procedure
Before beginning the experiment, we gathered the necessary materials. The
two liquids that we studied were water and SAE 30W oil. We used regular
water from the tap and Shell SAE 30W motor oil purchased from Auto-Zone.
For a capillary tube, we used an ordinary drinking straw cut in half so that
each liquid had its own tube. To make measurements, we used a permanent
marker to mark the liquid levels and a CEN-TECH 6 dial caliper.
To begin the experiment, we measured the diameter of the drinking straw to
obtain its radius. We then placed a mark about an inch from the bottom of
the straw to show how far it would be inserted into the liquid. Next, we
poured the two liquids into two separate containers and allowed them to
settle. Then, we inserted the two drinking straws into each liquid separately
up to the initial mark and recorded a mark at the height that the liquid
raised. We also estimated the angle that the liquid formed with the wall of
the tube as best as possible, using our judgment. The differences in the two
marks on the drinking straws were recorded. With the gathered data, the
surface tension of each liquid was then calculated using Eq. 1.
Lastly, we looked up accepted values for the actual surface tension of the
two liquids. These were compared to our experimental calculations and we
calculated the percent error to show how far off our experiment was.
Results
Density ()
(lbm/in.^3)
Fluid
Height (h)
(in.)
Angle ()
(radians)
Surface
Tension ()
(lbm/s^2)
0.032
0.115
0.611
0.086732471
Water
0.036
0.067
0.698
0.060776094
Gravity (g)=
386.089 in./s^2
Radius ( r )=
0.1 in.
0.086732471
Accepted
Value of
Surface
Tension
(lbm/s^2)
0.079
0.060776094
0.16
Calculated
Surface
Tension
(lbm/s^2)
Error
(%)
9.79%
62.01
%
Appendices
A: Sample Calculations from Mathcad:
B: References
For densities: http://www.engineersedge.com/fluid_flow/fluid_data.htm
For Figure 1:
http://www.pharmainfo.net/files/images/stories/article_images/Capillary_actio
n_a%20wetting_non_wetting_liquid%20.jpg
For a definition of surface tension:
http://ezproxy.prescott.latech.edu:2048/login?
url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=a9h&AN=39034459&site=ehost-live&scope=site
For surface tension of water:
http://www.xydatasource.com/xy-showdatasetpage.php?
datasetcode=4444&dsid=107&searchtext=water
For surface tension of oil:
Jasper, J.J., J. Phys. Chem. Ref. Data, 1, 841, 1972.
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