Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I was trying to do the effect of the temperature on the surface tension using the soap boat as described on this website but i did not find any change in the distance travelled or any other variable. Is there supposed to be a change and I am just doing something wrong or is there actually no change that is produced? Thanks

Hello ajoshi9,

I'm assuming that you are working on the project described here:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... on#summary

Temperature does affect the surface tension of water so you'd expect changes in how far your soap boat travels with different temperatures. It's possible that the temperature difference you tested was not large enough to see a change in the boat's travel distance. You might want to repeat your experiment with a greater temperature difference.

I hope this helps. Please ask again if you have more questions.

A. Norman