5/23/2014 Particle Size and Settling Rate

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Particle Size and Settling Rate
Name: Kim
Status: Student
Grade: 9-12
Location: NY
Country: United States
Date: March 2008
Question:
I have learned in Earth Science that larger, more dense, spherical particles
settle first in still water. However, I was wondering why this happens? How
do density, size, and shape of an object affect its settling rate?
Replies:
Kim,
It is a matter of competing forces. The force that is pulling the particle down
is gravity, f = m*a. As the particle gets larger and denser, m (mass)
increases. The opposing force is the friction of the water, which also
increases with the size of the particle and its shape (with more friction as its
surface area increases) .
So for example, with two particles of the same mass and density, the one
with the larger surface area (thus more friction) will settle slower. Two
particles of the same size and shape, but different density, the one with the
higher density (more mass) will settle faster.
There are various other permutations, although it is harder to know without
calculations or experimentation which will settle faster if you vary more than
one characteristic at a time.
Don Yee
Kim,
You may have heard that the two objects fall at the same rate, that the speed
at which they fall is only dependent on the gravity (which is the same if they
are at the same distance from the center of the Earth) and this may have led
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are at the same distance from the center of the Earth) and this may have led
you to think that it will be true also for settling objects in fluids. This is no
longer true because a fluid like water may affect falling (or settling) rates
unlike a fluid like air. Water, being more dense then air, can have a buoyant
effect on objects. For example a piece of wood may float in water, but a
similarly shaped piece of metal will sink. On the other hand, a similar mass
of metal that is shaped like a hollow sphere, may float on water because the
amount of displaced water has a mass that could be greater than the metal
object. So, unlike air which has a small buoyant effect (the mass of air
displaced by an object is small relative to the mass of the object), water,
being denser than air, will have a much bigger displaced mass, and have a
stronger buoyant effect.
Thus, objects will fall at different rates in a denser fluid like water because
the buoyant effect on the objects will be different.
Greg (Roberto Gregorius)
Kim,
Spherical particles may settle more rapidly because their smaller surface
area (than say an irregularly shaped particle) causes less frictional drag
force. Thus they can settle fastest, assuming that all other factors (size and
mass) other than shape and irregularity of particles are held the same.
More dense (larger mass per unit volume) particles are heavier and thus for
the same size particle (heavy versus light) gravity will act more on the denser
particle, making it settle faster.
Larger particles, having more mass than smaller particles (assuming that
their density is the same) will settle faster because gravity has greater affect
on them.
Of course, we are talking about "larger" particles here with greater density
than water, as very small particles (especially if they have the same density
as water) can become suspended in a fluid. Particles with less density than
the fluid should float.
Kim's question could make it a bit confusing, as she said "larger, denser,
spherical".
The answer could be just "yes", but I wanted to explain further.
Frictional forces exerted by the medium through which the particle is falling
cause the fall rate to slow and eventually reach the terminal velocity. The fall
rate therefore depends on mass, size, and shape of the object, as well as
the density of the medium. I did not want to confuse Kim with terminal
velocity considerations.
If two particles have the same diameter, the one with greater density
(defined as mass per unit volume), and thus greatest mass, will fall fastest
because gravity will act more upon it.
If two particles have the same density, but different diameters (and thus
different mass), it may seem as though the one with more mass may fall
faster, but that one also experiences greater frictional forces imposed on it
by the medium. Equations would have to be used to determine which would
fall fastest.
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If two particles had the same mass and density, the one that is more
streamlined (spherical) would fall faster than one that is irregularly shaped,
because frictional forces in the medium would act more upon the irregularly
shaped particle, thereby slowing it's fall more.
In a way, Galileo's experiment was flawed. There was not sufficient distance
during the fall for weak air frictional forces to have much of an effect on the
two falling objects. If they had been differently shaped, like a feather and
something round of the same mass as the feather, or if the experiment had
been performed from the top of the Empire State Building or Sears Tower,
the results would have been different. The fall rate for two objects of the
same mass but different shapes is only the same in a vacuum, where
frictional forces can not act (which is not a real life situation).
David R. Cook
Meteorologist
Climate Research Section
Environmental Science Division
Argonne National Laboratory
Oops, I somehow sent it before I finished. onward...
Again, you are right that the buoyancy force is equal in magnitude to the
weight of fluid displaced. I have a hard time getting that across to my
students in one mouthful, because in that tiny little phrase is contained the
concepts of gravity, density, and displacement. So I just stated that buoyancy
is proportional to volume, which is true as long as the object is completely
submerged.
So I propose this as another iteration of the paragraph with your two
comments:
"The settling rate is the speed at which the viscous drag acting on the
settling particle exactly opposes the downward force on the particle. That
downward force is the interaction between the downward force of gravity on
the particle and the upward buoyancy force. (I have grouped the forces in this
way because the force of gravity and the force of buoyancy are the same at
any speed the particle might move. The force of viscous drag, however,
changes with speed.)
The larger the object is, and the denser it is, the greater the gravitational
force acting downward on it. The force of buoyancy on the object is how
much the water pushes it upward. The strength of this buoyancy force is
proportional to the volume of the object. (It is actually equal to the weight of
the water displaced by the particle, which is equal to the weight of a volume
of water equal to the volume of the particle.) If the particle is more dense than
water, its gravitational force exceeds its buoyancy force and the net force on
the particle is downward. If the particle is less dense than water, its buoyancy
force is stronger than the gravitational force and the net force on the particle
is upward."
Richard Barrans, Ph.D., M.Ed.
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Wyoming
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