Experiment 1: Motion a in Viscous Medium

1. Aims
The aim of this experiment is to observed and explain the physical force shown on the electronic
balance with respect to the bead and its position. From there we explained the relationship of
dV
mgkvB=m
beads motion in viscous medium - detergent.
dt - eq(1). From eq(1), we will
derive a new equation

VT=

mg B

k
k

- eq(2), where it show the relationship of beads

movement at terminal velocity. We will get the measurement of the V T from displacement-time
graph and from eq(2), we will determine the value of detergent viscosity, .
2. Objectives of the Experiment
The objective of the experiment is to record down the physical force of R 1, R2 and R3 and
observed the reading of electronic balance at R4 and R5 of the experiment. After that discuss
about the reading above. Another objective is to determine the terminal velocity of each bead
size VT and calculate the viscosity of the detergent when using different bead size using eq(2),
l g v b
k = 6 r -eq(3). and buoyancy force, B =
-eq(4).
where :
m = mass of bead (g)
g = force of gravity, 981(cm/sec2)
= viscosity of liquid (cps or gcm-1sec-1-)
r = radius of bead (cm)
vb = volume of bead (cm3)
l
-3
= density of liquid (gcm )

3. Data Analysis and Result Discussion

3.1 Preliminary Observation of Beads Position had on Physical Force shown in Electronic
Balance.
R1, when bead is immersed in liquid hold by a string
balance show a force of 0.716g. Force R1 actually is the Newton third-law pair of the buoyancy
force of bead acting on liquid. Although bead is not in direct contact with the electronic balance,
but the balance is in contact with the beaker and the beaker is with contact with the liquid.
Therefore R1 = Bbead on liquid = -Bliquid on bead.
R2, when bead is at the bottom touching the beaker.
balance show a force of 0.953g. R2 is the force mg of bead on beaker.
R2 = (mg)bead on beaker = - (mg)bead on beaker
(mg)balance on beaker = - (mg)beaker on balance
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Experiment 1: Motion a in Viscous Medium

Therefore R2 = (mg)bead on balance

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Experiment 1: Motion a in Viscous Medium

R3, when bead is raise to the position of R1 from R2 using a string

balance show a force of 0.628g. R3 is the force of Bbead on liquid - fbead on liquid where f is the fluid
resistance force. Therefore it also correspond to fliquid on bead - Bliquid on bead.
R4, when bead is drop to R2 and pull up quickly using the string
the reading R4 was observed to be decreasing as the bead move up from the beaker. The value R 4
was actually observed to went over to -ve reading of physical force. This might due to the fact
that external force is introduced to the system, when a positive external force is applied on the
bead, the bead move up which result in a negative acceleration as downward motion is define to
be positive force and upward motion is define to be negative.
When Fexternal > mg - f + B, R4 = -ve
R5, when bead allowed to drop freely into viscous medium without being hold by string
When bead is allowed to drop feely into beaker filled with detergent, R 5 is expected to be
observe to be steadily increase in physical force. At time = 0, instantaneous, R5 = R1. As the Bead
drop further down in the viscous medium, at time = x, R 5 = mg - f - b. Since bead is in downward
motion, mg > f + B. At t = t final R5 is equal to R2 when the bead reached the bottom. Since mg > f
+ B, mg is > B. Therefore the value of R 5 at to < tx < tfinal. The physical force reading increases as
time increase when the bead continue to falls.
3.2 Measurement of Terminal velocity and Determination of the viscosity of Mama Lemon
Dishwashing Liquid
From the Experiment, the raw data of three different bead size displacement-time data is
processed and ploted:

Figure.1 Plot of Displacement(cm) against Time(sec) Graph of Three Different Bead Size

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Experiment 1: Motion a in Viscous Medium

From the Figure.1, we can derive the VT of each bead size using the gradient of linear plot of
each bead size final 5 value. The final 5 Value is used as the bead most likely had reached VT. If
further prove is required, a velocity - time graph can be plotted. In the velocity - time graph, the
point where the graph is join with a straight horizontal line, with gradient = 1, the y-intercept will
be the VT which correspond to the gradient of linear line of displacement-time graph.
Therefore from figure.1:
VT for small beads =
VT for medium beads =
VT for large beads =

0.143 cm/sec
0.251 cm/sec
0.471 cm/sec

It is observed that as the size of the bead get bigger, the terminal velocity of the bead also get
larger. As the beads travels down the column of viscous liquid, both different beads actually
experience similar fluid resistance force. However as larger bead has a larger mass as compare to
the smaller bead, it experiences a greater downward force of gravity. The large bead accelerate
for a longer period of time before reaching the sufficient upward fluid resistance requires to
balance the downward force of gravity. Therefore the larger bead actually reached the terminal
velocity later thus it had a greater magnitude of terminal velocity.
From the Raw and Processed Data:
Small Bead
Terminal Velocity, VT
0.143
Mass, m
0.069
Radius, r
0.227
Volume, vb
0.0490
Buoyancy, B
58.0153
mg,
67.68900
k
67.65
Using eq(2),(3) and (4):
VT=

Medium Bead
0.251
0.178
0.315
0.131
155.0231
174.61800
78.07
mg B

k
k

Large Bead
0.471
0.945
0.550
0.697
825.1881
927.04500
216.26

- eq(2).

k = 6 r - eq(3).
B=

l g v b

g
4
(m
l r 3 )
------eq(5)
6 VTr
3

Substitute the values into eq(5), we will get:

Viscosity, for small beads =

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- eq(4).

15.8 gcm-1sec-1

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Unit
cmsec-1
g
cm
cm3
g cm sec-2
g cm sec-2
g sec

Experiment 1: Motion a in Viscous Medium

Viscosity,
Viscosity,

for medium beads =

13.1 gcm-1sec-1
for large beads = 20.9 gcm-1sec-1

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Experiment 1: Motion a in Viscous Medium

Therefore, viscosity in terms of cps:

Viscosity, for small beads =
Viscosity,
Viscosity,

1580 cps

for medium beads =

1310 cps
for large beads = 2090 cps

Comparing calculated viscosity to reference value of 1410cps,

%Error of Results from Reference Values =

ResultsReferece
x 100
%
Reference

Therefore %Error of Viscosity, :

%Error for small beads =
12%
%Error for medium beads = -7%
%Error for large beads =
48%
Therefore from the result we can see that the as the for the small and medium bead, the %Error is
still somewhere "acceptable", 12%. But for the large bead, the %Error is actually approximate
48%. This show using f = kv (drag force) to calculate viscosity is ineffective for bead that is
larger than certain size as VT is larger den certain values.
When an object move through a fluid, the frictional force is either viscous (drag) or turbulent
drag. A larger objects or object that have faster motion actually favors the turbulent drag in
comparison to a smaller object that move slower which favors viscous drag. For this experiment,
we actually make use of eq(1), where f = kv. This equation will become inaccurate when the
object is travelling above certain velocity.
Once the object reached the certain velocity, the frictional force might get more complicate as
there is overlapped between the two types of drag - viscous and turbulent. Therefore to calculate
viscosity using large beads, Reynolds number had to be introduced to the equation for the fluid
resistance force. Reynolds number is a constant that represent an ratio of inertial forces against
viscous forces which can be used to compute for both the situation above.

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Experiment 1: Motion a in Viscous Medium

4. Error Analysis
The measurement error of time is taken from average delayed human reaction which is assume to
be 0.2sec + the precision error of the stopwatch which is (20/100)sec, therefore equate to
0.4sec. The diameter error of the bead is taken from the precision error of the vernier caliper,
0.002cm.The displacement error is taken from the radius of the bead with error + error from the
ruler reading. Therefore for a large bead of diameter 11.00mm, the max displacement error will
1.102
be
+ 0.05 0.6cm (round off to nearest instrument precision). The measurement
2
error of the electronic balance is taken to be the fluctuation of the reading 0.001g.
For the displacement error, the measurement error is

0.6cm. However the std error

computed is found to be larger compared to measurement error. Example for large bead, at t =
135sec, the standard error is found to be 3.4cm as compare to measurement error to 0.6cm of
measurement. Therefore the std error is used in computing the errors bar for the displacementtime graph, figure.1.
5. Conclusion
In conclusion, this experiment had helps us to visually the physical force of how bead motion
had on the liquid medium. It also help us to explain the relation between mg, B and f from
observation of reading R1 R2 R3 and R5. In addition, we had calculate the viscosity of detergent
using VT with three different bead sizes. Although equation 2 is not accurate for computing the
viscosity for large bead as the results deviation from references viscosity greatly, it had shown us
that we can get the approximate viscosity of the detergent using the small bead and medium
bead, in another words, when velocity is below certain limits. Therefore this experiment had
proved that f = kv is true at low speed
6. Reference(s)
[1] The University of Arizona, (N.D). Terminal Velocity. Retrieved from the University of Arizona
Website: http://www.physics.arizona.edu/physics/gdresources/documents/06_Terminal_Velocity.pdf.

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