Name ___________________ Date __________ Period _______ Lab Page _____

Darwin 9/15/21
How is the Surface Tension of Water Affected by the side of a penny?

1. Purpose: To find out if the side of the penny will affect the water's surface tension?

● Independent variable: The side of the penny

● Dependent variable: number of drops
● Control Variables: penny,water,eyedropper

2. Develop a hypothesis that answers the experimental question. Write your hypothesis
below.

If we drop water on both sides of a penny, then the tails side will hold more drops.

Materials: * Penny, * Cup of water, *Pipette, *Paper towels

3. Test your hypothesis by comparing the number of drops of tap water that can fit on the heads side of
a penny to the number of drops that can fit on the tails side of a penny. Because water drops may vary
depending on how well you drop the water, it is best to run many trials and take an average. Record
your data in the table below.

Observations:The penny was dated at 2016 it looks rusty,it weighs 2.5 grams,the diameter is 1.9,the
thickness is 1mm,the circumference is 6.2cm

Procedures:
1. Make initial observations (use space provided or the back of paper).
2. Place the penny heads up onto an unfolded paper towel. 
3. Fill the pipette with water.
4. Drop water onto the penny, counting each drop, until it falls off the penny.
5. Record number of drops into the data chart.
6. Repeat steps 2-4 four more times making sure to dry off the penny each time.
7. Repeat steps 2-5 for the tails side of the penny.
8. Find the averages for the trials.

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial 5 Average

Heads 21 20 21 16 17 19
Tails 24 21 15 19 26 21