Viscosity of Oil

A STUDY BY PHYSICHEM

Kelvin Yankey
YNKKEL001 | PHY1013S
CONTENTS

Introduction ................................................................................................. 2
Aim ................................................................................................................ 2
Method ......................................................................................................... 2
Apparatus.................................................................................................. 2
Schematic Diagram ................................................................................. 3
Photograph Of System ............................................................................ 4
Method USED ............................................................................................ 4
Results And Discussion ................................................................................ 6
Overview ................................................................................................... 6
Calculating Terminal Velocity................................................................. 6
Table 1: Time Taken For The Object To Move Through The Fluid At
Different Lengths .................................................................................... 6
Table 2: Average Time Taken For The Ball To Travel Different
Lengths Inside The Oil ............................................................................ 7
Figure 1: Dataset Used In Linear Fit ...................................................... 9
Figure 2: The Graph Of Distance Over Time For This Dataset ........ 10
Figure 3: Output From Linearfit ........................................................... 10
Calculating The Co-Efficient Of Viscocity ........................................... 11
Conclusion ................................................................................................. 14
Overview ................................................................................................. 14
Questions On The Experiment ............................................................... 14
Final Remarks .......................................................................................... 15
INTRODUCTION

Necessity breeds invention. And at Physichem, the need to

evolve is the only constant throughout this company. And
here, we have the chance the chance to evolve once
more. A new oil for motor vehicles. This new product could
change things for the company. But before we can move
forward, questions about the oil must be answered first. The
most prominent is questions about the viscosity of the fluid.
Optimal viscosity means the difference between a runaway
success and abject failure. Could this new oil design deliver
on its promises? Or is it just one more footnote in the history
of Physichem? This report aims to answer those questions
and more.
AIM

To determine the coefficient of viscosity of the new oil and

make final recommendations as to its viability
METHOD

APPARATUS

The following equipment and material were used to perform

the experiment:

• Sample of the oil – The sample of the new oil to be

analyzed
• A steel ball – This ball will be dropped into the fluid.
From the nature of its motion, the viscosity of the oil can
be determined
 • Stopwatch – used to measure the time taken for the
steel ball to move through the liquid between 2 points.
From this, the velocity of the ball through the liquid can
be determined
• Measuring Cylinder – Used as a storage container for
the liquid
SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM

A rough illustration of the system set up for the experiment is

shown below:

Figure 1: Rough Illustration of the System used in the

experiment
PHOTOGRAPH OF SYSTEM

Below is a photograph of the system used to perform the

experiment

METHOD USED

In order to begin the experiment, a sample of the new oil

was taken and poured into a measuring cylinder. An
assorted number of identical steel balls in shape, size and
mass were taken. Using the measurements on the
measuring cylinder, 5 different lengths were marked off.
From the data set of the 5 different lengths, one length was
selected

A steel ball was then stationed high above the measuring

cylinder such that when dropped, the ball would reach its
terminal velocity when it entered the oil. The stopwatch was
also reset.
The steel ball was then dropped into the measuring cylinder.
The stopwatch was then started such that, it measured the
amount of time taken for the steel ball to travel the length
selected. This time was then recorded.

The act of dropping the steel ball into the measuring

cylinder and measuring the amount of time it took to
traverse that length was then repeated 4 more times such
that a dataset of time amount of time the steel ball took to
travel that specific length in the fluid was obtained.

Another length was selected, and the experiment was then

performed again until the set of different lengths was
exhausted.

An average time travelled was then calculated for each

respective length. And using the length and time taken to
travel that length, the velocity of the ball through the oil was
then calculated. This was then used in further analysis on the
next page
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

OVERVIEW

One way to try to find the viscosity of a fluid is to describe

the motion of an object through that liquid. One aspect of
the description is how fast the object moves through the
liquid.
CALCULATING TERMINAL VELOCITY

First, the values for the lengths had to be found. For all the
lengths, there is a common starting point. This point was
determined to be a point in space where the ball would
most likely reach terminal velocity. Different end points were
taken for each length to obtain different distances

The time taken for the steel ball to move through the object
with respect to different lengths was then taken.

The result of that analysis is given below

TABLE 1: TIME TAKEN FOR THE OBJECT TO MOVE THROUGH THE FLUID AT DIFFERENT LENGTHS

I Lengths(mm) Times Taken (s)

1 23±0.5 0.48 0.53 0.5 0.48 0.49

2 46±0.5 0.9 0.95 0.89 0.93 0.87

3 69±0.5 1.44 1.39 1.38 1.45 1.46

4 92±0.5 1.98 2.01 2.03 1.97 2.05

5 115±0. 2.42 2.45 2.44 2.41 2.42

5
From here, the average of the times taken for each
respective length was found as well as its uncertainty, the
uncertainty calculation was performed with the help of
Microsoft Excel

The results of those calculations are given below

TABLE 2: AVERAGE TIME TAKEN FOR THE BALL TO TRAVEL DIFFERENT LENGTHS INSIDE THE OIL

I Length(mm) Time Taken(s) U(s)

1 23±0.5 0.496 0.003709447
2 46±0.5 0.908 0.005713143
3 69±0.5 1.424 0.006523803
4 92±0.5 2.008 0.005986652
5 115±0.5 2.428 0.002939388

Now if we assume that the ball was in terminal velocity while

the time was being measured, it will mean that for each
entry in the dataset of table 2, the velocity was roughly
equal.

One of the most basic equations of motion is that distance is

equal to speed multiplied by time. If the equation is worked
around, we can get a new equation which describes the
speed of an object as a function of the time taken to travel
a distance as well as the distance travelled.

The equation is given below:

 Equation 1
∆𝑥
𝑠=
∆𝑡
Where s is the speed of the object, ∆𝑥 is the distance
travelled and ∆𝑡 is the time taken. Therefore, looking at the
equation. If we were ever to plot a graph of distance over
time, the gradient of the graph would give us the average
speed of the object in that situation. Its just our luck that we
have a dataset showing the distance as well as the time
taken for the steel ball to travel through the oil. Using this, we
can plot a graph of distance over time and then use the
gradient of the graph to find the average velocity of the
object when it was going through the oil, hence we would
find the steel ball’s terminal velocity as it travelled through
the medium

Before the graph can be made, the lengths must be

converted into standard values, in this case, meters.

Since the time data is already in seconds, no further

conversion was necessary

The Linear Fit program was used to generate the graph.

Therefore, a screenshot of the dataset used in Linear Fit is

given below. Please note that the uncertainty values were
placed their respective uncertainty weights section
FIGURE 1: DATASET USED IN LINEAR FIT

With x corresponding to the values for time and y

corresponding to distance. Also note that the distance
values were converted from millimeters into meters

With that, the graph was then generated. And a screenshot

of it is given below
FIGURE 2: THE GRAPH OF DISTAN CE OVER TIME FOR THIS DATASET

Finally, Linear Fit also gave the value for the gradient of the
graph

FIGURE 3: OUTPUT FROM LINEARFIT

Therefore, the gradient is given as:

𝑚 ± 𝑢(𝑚) = 0.0461393 ± 0.00147006
Since:
∆𝑥
𝑠=
∆𝑡
The terminal velocity of the ball is therefore equal to the
gradient and is therefore:
𝑣 ± 𝑢(𝑣) = 0.0461393 ± 0.00147006 𝑚/𝑠
CALCULATING THE CO -EFFICIENT OF VISCOCITY

With the terminal velocity of the steel ball as it went through

the oil now obtained, we can now move forward to
attempt to calculate the co efficient of viscosity of the oil,
which in itself could be used to determine whether the
product is viable.

For a spherical ball falling at its terminal speed, in a viscous

liquid, by considering the forces acting on the falling ball,
we can derive an equation which describes the coefficient
of viscosity of a fluid as a function of other parameters:

This equation is given below:

Equation 2
(2𝑔(𝜌𝑏 − 𝜌𝑓 ) 𝑟2
𝑛=( )∗
9 𝑣𝑇

Where:

• n is the coefficient of viscosity

• 𝜌𝑏 is the density of the steel ball
• 𝜌𝑓 is the density of the fluid
 • 𝑟 is the radius of the ball
• 𝑣𝑇 is the terminal speed of the steel ball as it fell through
the fluid
• 𝑔 is the value for gravitational acceleration where the
situation occurred or in this case, where the experiment
was performed?

Now from previous analysis a few values were obtained

• The density of the steel ball was found to be 7780± 1

kg*m-3
• The density of the oil was found to be 989 ± 1 kg* m-3
• Since the experiment was performed in Cape Town,
the value of gravitational acceleration in that area was
found to be 9.79 ±0.01 m*s-2
• The radius of the ball was measured to be 2.25 ± 0.01
mm. Converted to standard values, this would be
0.00225 ± 0.00001 m
• And from the calculation performed in earlier parts of
this report, the terminal velocity is given as 0.0461393 ±
0.00147006 m/s

With all this data, we can then calculate the value of the
coefficient of viscosity for this fluid
(2𝑔(𝜌𝑏 − 𝜌𝑓 ) 𝑟2
𝑛=( )∗
9 𝑣𝑇

(2 ∗ 9.79 ∗ (7780 − 989) 0.00225 2

=( )∗
9 0.0461393
 = 1.621055721 𝑁 ∙ 𝑠 ∙ 𝑚−2

While the value for its uncertainty is given as:

𝑛 ∗ 𝑢 (𝑣 𝑇 )
𝑢(𝑛) =
𝑣𝑇
1.621055721 ∗ 0.00147006
=
0.0461393
= 0.05164901013

Therefore:

𝑚 ± 𝑢(𝑚) = 1.621055721 ± 0.05164901013 𝑁 ∙ 𝑠 ∙ 𝑚−2

Formatted to 3 significant figures:

𝑚 ± 𝑢(𝑚) = 1.62 ± 0.0516 𝑁 ∙ 𝑠 ∙ 𝑚−2

CONCLUSION

OVERVIEW

In order to be potentially viable, we have been told that the

new oil must have a coefficient of viscosity equal or close to
that of normal refined oil at room temperature. The
coefficient of viscosity of normal refined oil at room
temperature is given as 1.60 ± 0.03 N s m-2. The question is
can pre-production be approved? Well, from our
calculations, the co-efficient of viscosity of the new oil was
found to be:
1.62 ± 0.0516 𝑁 ∙ 𝑠 ∙ 𝑚−2

This value does intersect with the book value of the

coefficient of viscosity of normal refined oil (due to the
values of uncertainty) and thus, we can conclude that the
coefficients are very similar.
QUESTIONS ON THE EXPERIMENT

We were able to obtain positive results for this experiment,

however, steps could be taken to improve the reliability of
the result

• The values for the time taken to move a certain

distance was obtained using a stopwatch and sight. In
the future, technology which more accurately
measures time taken should be used
• To confirm the final value, a different object with a
different density should be used
As to the measurements of distance, the most trusted
measurement should be the longest, as it gives the best
average for the speed through the medium
FINAL REMARKS

Given that the values for the coefficients of viscosity are so

close, it is within reason that the new oil behaves optimally
and thus, pre-production testing of the new oil should be
approved without further delay. It is the hope of this
researcher that this could be the start of a new era