VISCOSITY LAB

Observations: (PLEASE SEE ATTACHED) Discussion: A liquid decreases in viscosity as temperature increases because of its particles speed. According to the particle theory of matter, particles are affected by the temperature. If the temperature is high, then the particles move faster, if the temperature is low, the particles move slower. To be viscous means, Having a thick, sticky consistency between solid and liquid; having a high viscosity. Viscosity is resistance to flow so if a liquid is to resist flow it has to be closer to a solid than a gas. A solid wouldnt even be able to flow whereas a gas can flow because its a fluid. Viscosity is also based on internal friction of particles in a fluid. When molecules interact with each other, they create internal friction which changes the viscosity of a fluid. The particle theory of matter also states that particles have large gaps/spaces between them. A liquid and solid have particles packed denser than gas particles. The liquids particles would create less internal friction if they were heated up, because heating particles up creates larger gaps, they would have more room to move. This would cause less friction and make it less viscous.

Flow rate of a liquid is related to its viscosity because they both affect each other. The higher the viscosity, the lower the flow rate is. The higher the flow rate, the lower the viscosity must be. They both have to do with a fluids ability to flow; flow rate could also be used as a way to measure viscosity. If a fluid has high viscosity it means that it resists flow a lot and wont be able to flow as freely. An example is honey because when you pour honey, it doesnt shoot out; instead it slowly oozes out of its container. That would be something that has high viscosity and a low flow rate. Water comes out faster from its container when its poured so it has low viscosity and a high flow rate. If temperature or pressure is applied, viscosity will

change and if viscosity changes, flow rate will as well. We measure flow rate by distance traveled in a given time whereas viscosity is measured using viscometers. If a fluid can travel/flow past a far distance in a given time, it would have less viscosity than something that slowly flows a distance in a given time.

The human body has and can change viscosity in many ways. One way is when you move around or exercise. This causes blood to flow through your vessels and your circulatory system. Blood is a liquid so it can flow and has viscosity and a flow rate. Viscosity inside the human body can change in many ways, you can drink lots of water and that can thin your blood making the flow rate faster. To slow down the flow rate, you can tense up/flex your muscles so that pressure increases. A blood vessel increases in pressure, blood flow will increase. Tensing up your muscles will slow down the blood from flowing and a resting arm would be a non moving one which means low flow rate and high viscosity. Blood in humans travels distances to get to different organs and areas of the body. This would be the distance of flow rate and a time would be like when you have a heart attack. If the blood doesnt flow to the heart in the given time, you can die. Blood brings oxygen and removes carbon dioxide from the cells when it reaches to them. If you exercise, the flow rate of your blood would increase to keep your cells healthy/usable. Aspirin thins out the blood which gives it a low viscosity.

Other factors that could affect flow rate, excluding temperature, are size of test tube hole, ramp angle, and amount of fluid. These can affect the viscosity of a fluid in many ways. For example, if the size of the test tube hole is large, more of the fluid can come out at once. If the size of the test tube hole is small, the fluid will continue to flow until its escaped its container. This would cause the fluid in the large holed test tube to pour out faster than the small one. Even if they traveled the same distance they wouldnt have the same flow rate. The ramp angle could affect the fluids speed as well. If the ramp is close to 90 degrees, then the liquids would flow

faster than they would on another ramp. There would be more gravity because they would be directly down and this can cause a higher flow rate as well. If there is more of one fluid than there is of another, it might change how fast they make it down a ramp. With more fluid needing to flow, it would take a longer time, whereas a small amount of the same fluid can flow in a shorter time. For flow rate we measure using distance traveled divided by time taken, it doesnt include amount of substance. Some of these factors could make it seem as if a fluid has higher or lower viscosity than it really has.

Conclusion: In conclusion, our hypothesis of Viscosity decreasing as temperature increases was correct. We thought if temperature increases, than the particles inside the liquids would (according to the particle theory of matter) move faster and the liquid becomes less thick. We were correct in thinking this as we had seen in our observations. All the liquids increased in flow rate after they were heated up. Viscosity is the measure of a fluids resistance to flow, meaning a liquid that flows fast would be less viscous than a liquid that flows slower. The liquids flowed faster meaning they certainly had less viscosity at a higher temperature than they did at normal temperature. Our lab went well but not perfect. We were short on time because of many human factors and equipment factors which resulted in us rushing which might have disturbed the data. During the lab, we all had to share 1 tablespoon meaning everyone had to take turns; this was an inconvenience to time because we had to wait. We had to use the tablespoon in intervals because of heating liquids up and getting liquids as well. Another source of error was that we only waited 30 seconds for the thermometer to cool down. This may have caused a slight error in our temperature measurements because the thermometer may have not had enough time to return to normal settings. This also resulted in us changing our method while conducting the lab.

We also had to share the thermometer with many groups which also lost us time. In the future we could bring some of our own apparatus just to be safe. A lot of time could have been saved on this if we had brought another thermometer or tablespoon just in case. 3 would be even better because then there would be 1 for every liquid. The fluids that we measured were water, heated water, sunflower oil, heated sunflower oil, honey, and heated honey. Out of these liquids the honey and water were the most difficult to measure using the viscosity ramp. The honey was difficult to measure because it flowed at a slower rate than what we had predicted. This caused increase the timer mid way and ended up counting manually. The water was hard to measure with this ramp as well because the ramp was only 30cm (we only used 30cm). The water just zoomed past the finish line giving us tenths of a second. When measuring the heated honey, it was a little easier but the heated water zoomed past the finish line even faster. Using more of the ramp could have helped us because the liquids would have to travel a longer distance. This would give us more time to measure the speeding water and it wouldnt change the honey too much.