Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

PROBLEM STATEMENT:
How many drops of water will fit on a penny without overflowing depending on the type of water solution used?
I used Soapy water, Plain Water, and Sugar water. My results were that the sugar water held up the most drops on the penny.

I conducted my experiment and did everything but im stuck on the application!!

I wanted to know what the applications fo this project would be. For example, how exactly would knowing all this information and everything help in the real world? Can anybody help!? Its an emergency i need to know by september 6!!!

Thank you!

Hi,

This experiment is an excellent demonstration of surface tension. Don’t forget to include an explanation of surface tension in your project write up.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p021.shtml


Practical applications where surface tension would be important include in any application of microfluidics:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microfluidics

Also, any application where surfactants would be used such as using soap to wash dishes or solubilizing oil droplets for microbial digestion of an oil spill. This Wikipedia article includes a list of other applications. Can you explain why snowboard wax is included on the list of applications?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfactant

Here’s some more examples, including insects that walk on water:

http://www.brighthub.com/engineering/me ... 11047.aspx

Here is another website that includes a presentation with calculations from a group at MIT that includes a photograph of a floating needle. If you are interested, it looks like you could get your PhD by studying this topic. Can you understand any of the calculations?

http://web.mit.edu/nnf/education/wettab ... ndex1.html


Donna Hardy