Practical investigation on teminal velocity of a sphere in oil

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Physics CAT One

Extended Practical Investigation

Report

Student Number:

Purpose

The Purpose of this investigation is to explore how the terminal velocity of a sphere falling through glycerol varies with the temperature of the glycerol and the size of the sphere.

Introduction

In the early stages of the project it was intended to investigate how the speed of a sphere falling through glycerol varies with the size of the sphere. However, after analysis it was decided that the investigation would be more callenging if a second variable was incorporated. There are many constants that could have been manipulated such as, amount of glycerol used, distacnce over which times were taken, distance sphere was allowed to fall before timing was taken and the temperature of the glycerol. After much consultation it was decided that the temperature of the glycerol should be varied. Once this had benn incorporated into the investigation some scientific concepts related to the viscosity of a liquid had to be attained.

(Refer to article).

In conducting the experiments an attempt was made to attain results that could, produce graphs that showed the terminal velocity of a sphere related to the temperature of the glycerol and the terminal velocity of a sphere related to its size.

Apparatus used

* 600 ml of glycerol (density 1.26/ml. Assay 98.0 - 101.0%)

* Small ball bearings of radius: 3.175mm

3.960mm

5.000mm

6.000mm

7.000mm

* 900 ml measuring cylinder

* Stop watch

* Thermometer

* Some type of heating and cooling device to varie the temperature of the glycerol

* Tweezers

Variables and Constants

The variables that have been used in this investigation are the size of the ball bearings and the temperature of the glycerol. The constants that have been used in this investigation are the amount of glycerol used, the size...