Name: Water Is Life Conference 2014

Aquanamics!
In Physics, you dont have to go around making trouble for yourself - nature does it for you.
Frank Wilczek, theoretical physicist & Nobel laureate
1 Anti-Gravity Water
Have you ever observed this neat magic trick where someone lls a cup with water, covers the cup
with a water-permeable object, ips the cup upside down, and to your surprise, the water dees
gravity by not owing out? The truth is, the water seems to defy gravity, but in fact, it does not!
Lets think about it. Gravity wants to pull the water out of the cup, but somehow the water does
not want to come out. Hence, a logical deduction would be that there is a force that is acting
against gravity and that is preventing the water from falling out. Indeed, physicists have discovered
such a force and they call it surface tension.
A Bite-Size Introduction
Surface tension can be thought of as a property that every kind of liquid has. It is formally dened
as the force (per unit length) that pulls a liquid to a shape that reduces its surface area as much as
possible. On the microscopic scale, surface tension exists in a liquid because at the surface of a liquid
the liquids atoms/molecules are pulled to each other via inter-molecular forces of attraction. Thus,
a liquids atoms/molecules are in the most favourable energy state when they are closest to each
other. This means that the surface area has to be minimised so that the liquids atoms/molecules
can be as close to each other as possible.
Figure 1: A water globule oats freely on the middeck of
space shuttle Atlantis in front of NASA astronaut Leland
Melvin. Note that the water globule forms a spherical
shape to minimise its surface area.
1
A Little Clarication
It is important to realise, however, that sometimes when one discusses surface tension one may
really be discussing adhesion, which usually comes hand-in-hand with surface tension. While surface
tension is about the cohesion between a liquids atoms/molecules at the liquids surface, adhesion
is about the attractive forces between atoms/molecules of two dierent media. Thus, while the
scenario in Figure 1 is directly related to surface tension because the water globule is in vacuum,
what we usually observe in the laboratory (e.g., hydrophobic surfaces, meniscus, etc.) and in nature
(e.g., Lotus eect) are really the eects of adhesion. For example, the common phenomenon of
water forming a concave surface in a narrow tube (i.e., meniscus) is a result of the stronger adhesion
between water and the walls of the tube as compared to the surface tension and cohesion between
water molecules at and near the tubes walls.
Figure 2: A computer-generated
image of the Lotus eect.
In this activity, surface tension will be the main actor since it explains the deance of gravity by
water, while adhesion will be the side actor since it explains a few subtle but interesting phenomena
that accompany the main catch of the trick.
What Did You (Not) See?
After you have completed the experiment, you must have made some cool observations, so do pen
them down and try to account for them! Do be specic so that what you write will make sense to
yourself! Also, since the experimental procedures are not foolproof, there are no absolutely right
or wrong answers!
Q: What did you observe about the water? How did it defy gravity?
2
Q: What did you observe about the tissue membrane? Did it curve upwards, downwards or remain
taut? Whichever the case, why?
Q: What happened when you shook or tilted the cup a little? Why did whatever you saw happen?
Q: What happened when you did not stretch the tissue membrane across the mouth of the cup
tightly? Why did whatever you saw happen?
3
Proposed Explanations
So, there are pores in the tissue membrane and yet the water does not seep through them just like
how water gushes through the opening of your water bottle into your mouth. The short answer
would be surface tension, but of course an elaborate explanation would be more satisfactory.
Figure 3: Illustration of water molecules and
the hydrogen bonds between them.
First, it may be good to examine what gives rise to waters surface tension. On the microscopic
level, each water molecule is made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. The hydrogen
atoms link up with the oxygen atom by covalent bonding. Due to the strong electronegativity of
the oxygen atom, however, the shared electrons in the bonds tend towards the oxygen atom, thus
creating a slight negative polarity on the oxygen atom and slight positive polarities on the hydrogen
atoms. This phenomenon, termed hydrogen bonding, is the primary cause of water molecules
pulling each other attractively, which in turn accounts for the surface tension of water.
Figure 4: Illustration of how
water dees gravity. Do
note that the size of the
water moleclues are grossly
exaggerated.
Now, let us zoom in on what happens at the interface of the tissue membrane and the water. Let
us be clear about a few things. First, surface tension is not the only force that is supporting the
entire weight of the water. Surface tension is relatively much weaker than the gravity acting on the
entire water mass, which is why with a large hole like the opening of your water bottle water still
gushes out. Second, continuing from the rst point, the tissue membrane supports the bulk of the
waters weight. Surface tension only becomes signicant at the tiny pores on the tissue membrane,
where it prevents water from trickling out due to gravity.
4
Figure 5: An illustration which possi-
bly explains why the tissue membrane
curved upwards.
Let us shift our focus to the other subtle phenomena now. The rst phenomenon that we (the
workshop conductors) observed was that after the cup was ipped upside down, the tissue membrane
actually curved upwards a little!
We believe that this occurred due to two reasons. First, the adhesion between the cups wall and
the water was stronger than the cohesion and surface tension between the water molecules near
the cups wall, hence a concave meniscus was formed. Second, the adhesion between the tissue
membrane and the water at the centre of the water-tissue interface was so strong that the water
pulled the tissue membrane upwards by a little.
Another thing that we observed was that the water spilled out of the cup both when the cup was
shaken or tilted and when the tissue was not stretched across the cups mouth tightly. We believe
that the water spilled out in both cases because of imbalances in the waters pressure on the tissue
membrane (which resulted from tilting, shaking, and a loose tissue membrane).
Conclusion
Figure 6: A sequence of camera
shots showing a water droplet
bouncing o a water surface.
While you might not have observed the subtle phenomena, hopefully you managed to observe water
defy gravity! While surface tension and adhesion are extremely weak when compared to the forces
we usually observe in daily life (e.g., pushing someone, watching rain fall, etc.), those of us who are
attentive would know that they are really ubiquitous. In fact, they play an important role in many
areas of science such as materials science!
5
2 Soap-Powered Boat
Figure 7: A common design
of the boat you can use. The
green-coloured part is where
the soap should be applied.
Heres another awesome trick create a light boat using paper or cardboard, place it gently on
water, apply a drop of soap directly behind the rear of the boat, and the boat will zoom o!
As with all magic tricks, once you understand the science behind that small but essential drop of
soap, you will be more satised than surprised!
What Did You (Not) See?
We are jumping straight into the recording of your observations because the science behind this
trick is actually just an extension of the concept of surface tension and we hope you will be able to
come up with the explanation on your own!
Q: Did the boat move forward, backward or did it remain static? Why? Do draw diagrams if that
helps you understand and explain the phenomenon better!
6
What Really Happened
If you were successful in your experiment, your boat should have moved forward quite quickly. Some
questions would then pop up why did the boat move forward, and how did it move so fast?
Physicists have discovered the mechanism behind the boats motion and they call it the Marangoni
eect. It is the phenomenon where mass is transferred along an interface between two liquids with
dierent surface tensions. It occurs because the liquid with higher surface tension will pull on its
surrounding more strongly than the liquid with lower surface tension, thus causing mass to ow
from the liquid with lower surface tension to the liquid with higher surface tension.
Figure 8: Flow visualisation of surfactant re-
leased by a water strider at its rear in water.
This provides a good analogy of how the soap-
powered boat works.
With this knowledge, we can now answer the three questions that were asked earlier. The boat
moved forward because the drop of soap caused the soap-water liquid mass to spread outward
radially, and the part of the liquid mass that moved forward pushed the boat forward.
Figure 9: 2D illustration of how the soap in-
teracts with the water to create a force that
pushes the boat forward.
Then, why did the boat move quickly? First, realise that fast is a relative concept, so let us
compare the scenario where the Marangoni eect is cause of the boat moving forward with the
scenario where the slight ripple caused by the drop of soap is the cause of the boat moving forward.
It is immediately intuitive that in the latter scenario, the ripple would be too weak to accelerate
the boat to such a high speed. Try dripping a drop of water at the rear of the boat and you would
most certainly either not see the boat nudge or see it move really slightly. Hence, we can infer
that the boat moved quickly because the dierence in surface tensions of the soap and the water
resulted in a net force of signicant magnitude that pushed the liquid mass and the boat forward.
Of course, another factor would be the sheer lightness of the boat but even if the boat were light,
a slight ripple would still not be able to accelerate the boat to such a high speed.
7
Conclusion
With just a drop of soap we managed to demonstrate the sheer power of the Marangoni eect!
The eect has been made used of both in nature and by Mankind some water insects use it as a
means of locomotion and semiconductor wafers can be dried because of the eect.
Figure 10: Tears of wine on
the upper walls of a wine-lled
glass.
One famous example which demonstrates the eect is the tears of wine phenomenon, where some
wine droplets are seen owing down the upper walls of a wine-lled glass. What happens is that
the wine near the walls of the glass climbs up the walls slightly due to the strong adhesion between
the glass and the wine. Then, since alcohol is highly volatile, the alcohol insde the wine that has
climbed up the walls evaporates, leaving water behind. This creates a surface tension gradient
across the wine that is near the walls and the water that is already on the walls, thus allowing the
Marangoni eect to occur (i.e., the water gets pushed upwards). This process repeats itself, thus
creating the beautiful tears we often see when we drink wine.
So the moral of the story is: the next time you see the tears , if you do not like them do not blame
the waiter or waitress for not pouring the wine into your glass properly!
3 Magnet-Propelled Water Boat
We have yet another jaw-dropping trick to show you, using just water and magnets. In case you
are wondering how these two entities are even related, you will see from this trick that a magnet
can repel water!
A Bite-Size Introduction
Yes, you did not read wrongly. Magnets can repel water! This is due to something called diamag-
netism, which is an intrinsic property of all materials. In the presence of an external magnetic eld,
diamagnetism would cause the creation of a magnetic eld that opposes the external magnetic
eld, thus resulting in repulsion. To truly understand this phenomenon, we would need to delve
into the crazy world of quantum mechanics. However, there is, fortunately, a rougher yet simpler
model that can explain the phenomenon adequately.
8
Figure 11: Illustration of Lenzs law.
This model involves a law in electromagnetism called Lenzs law, which in our context can simply
be understood as that an external magnetic eld passing through a conductive ring will induce
an electric current in the ring which will in turn create a magnetic eld that opposes the external
magnetic eld. Now, let us recall that all materials are made up of atoms, and every atom has a
nucleus that is surrounded by revolving electrons. Thus, if we apply an external magnetic eld to
any material and treat the revolving electrons as conductive rings, we are eectively allowing Lenzs
law to take eect!
Of course, your next question would then be: why is it that I dont see every material being
repelled by a magnet? There are two reasons for this. First, the electrons are constrained by
the pull of the positive nucleus and the Pauli Exclusion Principle. This is very complicated stu,
but the basic idea is that in reality the external magnetic eld does not induce a steady and
signicant electric current (i.e., a strong and consistent circular ow of electrons)that in turn
creates a signicant opposing magnetic eld. Second, in some materials, diamagnetism can be
overshadowed by paramagnetism and ferromagnetism, which are other forms of magnetism where an
external magnetic eld causes a material to produce a complementary magnetic eld, thus resulting
in the material being attracted to the source of the external magnetic eld. For example, an iron
bar is both a diamagnet and a ferromagnet, but its ferromagnetism far outweighs its diamagnetism.
You may then ask other questions: what gives rise to ferromagnetism and paramagnetism, and why
is water purely diamagnetic? The answers to these are beyond the scope of this workshop, but if
you are interested you may explore the concepts magnetic domains and spin magnetic moment.
Conclusion
Figure 12: Real image of a frog
hovering over a magnet. The
water content of the frog is
what enables this remarkable
feat to be achieved.
If your boat did not move much, do not be surprised. Diamagnetism is really weak, so it is normal
that you do not see the boat get repelled strongly by the magnet. If you felt the slight repulsion of
your hand while holding the magnet near the water-lled test tube, consider that an achievement!
Anyway, because of its sheer weakness, diamagnetism has very few applications. Nevertheless, it
is a really interesting phenomenon, and who would know if in the future scientists would discover
new ways to utilise this marvelous property?
9
4 Jumping On Water
Figure 13: Image of two people walking on
water. An event was organised in Malaysia,
where people were asked to travel across the
pool by walking, running, and even cycling!
Finally, its time for the last magic trick of the day! Before you jump to conclusions, let us clarify
one thing of course you cannot jump on pure water! Nevertheless, you can still jump on water,
that is, water with cornstarch added to it. This still does sound pretty impressive, isnt it?
Truth Of The Miracle
So how did you manage to jump on something which you would expect to sink in? The answer is
that adding cornstarch to water creates a new uid mixture (people call it oobleck) which can be
classied as a non-newtonian uid.
For our purposes, we do not need to know what this term means, but it would be useful to know that
there are many dierent types of non-newtonian uids and that oobleck can be further classied
as a shear-thickening uid. A shear-thickening uid behaves such that when the rate at which the
uid is being deformed increases, its viscosity (i.e., internal resistance to ow) increases too.
Figure 14: Shear-thickening uids have recently
sparked interest among military scientists, for rea-
sons which are stated in the annotated graphic.
Now, let us analyse the situation. Perhaps it is simply because of the stronger cohesion (i.e., surface
tension) between the oobleck particles that has allowed you to jump on the oobleck. Sure, it does
play a signicant role in supporting your weight, but if you try to stand on a particular spot on the
oobleck you would realise that you would start sinking!
This is where the concept of a shear-thickening uid comes in handy. Since at each instant when
your feet press against the oobleck you are eectively applying a non-linear increasing amount of
force, the amount of deformation that results increases at an increasing rate. Then, due to the
Poisson eect, which is the phenomenon where when a material gets stretched or compressed in
one direction, it gets compressed and stretched in the other two perpendicular directions, the uid
gets shear-strained at an increasing rate. This, by denition of a shear-thickening uid, causes the
viscosity of the oobleck to increase. In other words, the oobleck hardens and behaves more like a
solid. Now you know why you could walk on water!
10
5 Some Last Words...
At last, we have come to the end of the workshop! We hope that you have had fun with the magic
tricks and that you have learnt some Physics about water! Something that occupies more than
70% of the Earths surface is certainly worth studying about! Anyway, heres a joke to end the
stressful day!
The End
11