Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I'm confused, where is the variable L measured in this experiment? All other sources gloss over this and simply say it is the length of the flow path or flow length.

I am using the 2 liter bottles like on the website.

Hi,
A quick internet search came up with this website that might help you out:
http://www.ngwa.org/educator/lessonplans/darcy.cfm

It explains that "L" is the distance between the wells (or in your case the two bottles).

Hope this helps!

Hi,
Is your setup identical to the diagram shown on this webpage?
http://www.sciencebuddies.com/mentoring ... ?from=Home

If so, then I guess you are using one bottle for each experiment. In that case, L would be the distance between the point where water enters the sediment and the point where the water exits the sediment.

In this particular experimental setup, the change in hydraulic head (h1-h2) will be approximately the same as the flowpath length, L.