TOPIC : RAFT POWERED BY SURFACE TENSION
Submitted By : Shankhadeep Gupta
Class : XI (Science)
Roll No : 09
INDEX
Serial Page
No. Number
1 CERTIFICATE
2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
3 AIM
4 THEORY
5 DIAGRAM
6 APPARATUS
7 PROCEDURE
8 OBSERVATIONS
9 CALCULATION
10 CONCLUSION
11 BIBLIOGRAPHY
CERTIFICATE
This is to cer+fy that the Physics Project
“Ra# Powered By Surface Tension”
submi6ed by “Shankhadeep Gupta” of
Class XI.
Appearing for Physics Prac+cal of the
Central Board of Secondary Educa+on
(CBSE) 2023-2024.
INTERNAL EXAMINER EXTERNAL EXAMINER
PRINCIPAL TEACHER
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am thankful for the help and co-operation of the
school authorities, my physics teacher, Mrs
and the lab assistant, for the successful Mrs
completion of the investigatory project," Refractive
index of a liquid by using a plane mirror and convex
lens".
I am also thankful to the school for letting me use
their resources to complete my project.
I would also like to express my gratitude to my
parents and friends for their well-meant support and
giving helping hand whenever required.
NAME OF CANDIDATE : Shankhadeep Gupta
AIM
To inves)gate how a small ra2 made from a clear plas)c sheet can
be propelled by water surface tension.
INTRODUCTION
Surface tension is broadly defined as the energy required to
increase the surface area by a unit amount.
Surface Tension in Liquid :
It is defined as the property of liquid by virtue of which the surface
of a liquid at rest tends to have minimum area and behaves like it
is covered by a stretched membrane. The molecules of the liquid
experience intermolecular aArac)ons, or cohesive forces, which
means the molecules are pulling and pushing away from each
other, just like magnets both aAract and repel each other. In the
case of a water molecule surrounded on all sides by other water
molecules, every pulling force is balanced by a pushing force. The
net force is zero. Though at the surface, where air and water meet,
that is not true. The water molecules at the surface experience a
net downward pull. This is the surface tension of the water.
Water molecules like to interact with each other because
they are polar molecules, meaning they have positively
and negatively charged sides. Similar to a group of
magnets, the water molecules arrange themselves so
that the positive sides are away from each other, but can
interact with the negative sides. Other polar molecules
also interact with water molecules. Molecules that
interact with, and are dissolved by water are called
hydrophilic molecules. There are also molecules that do
not like to interact with water. They are hydrophobic. If
a molecule that has both hydrophilic and hydrophobic
parts is added to water, the hydrophilic end will try to
get close to the water molecules while the hydrophilic
end will push away from the water. This pulling and
pushing separates the water molecules from each other
and decreases the surface tension because of this.
Compounds that lower the surface tension of water are
known as surfactants.
Common effects of surface tension:
Surface tension has many effects observed in daily life.
These may include
1. Water beading on a leaf
2. Water dripping from a tap
Flotation of objects denser than water occurs when the
object is non-wettable and its weight is small enough to
be borne by the forces arising from surface tension
Marangoni Effect:
The Marangoni effect is the mass transfer along an
interface between two fluids due to surface tension
gradient.
Since a liquid with a high surface tension pulls more
strongly on the surrounding liquid than one with a low
surface tension, the presence of a gradient in surface
tension will naturally cause the liquid to flow away from
regions of low surface tension. The surface tension
gradient can be caused by concentration gradient or by a
temperature gradient.
A region with a lower concentration of a liquid - "A" with
greater surface tension will pull on the surrounding fluid
- "B" more
`
strongly than a region with a higher liquid
concentration which has lower surface tension.
The result is that the liquid "A" tends to flow
away from regions with higher concentration of
- "B" along the tension gradient. This can also
be easily demonstrated by spreading a thin
film of water on a smooth surface and then
allowing a drop of alcohol to fall on the centre
of the film. The liquid will rush out of the
region where the drop of alcohol fell.
MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENTS
Þ Kitchen Sponge ………………………………………
Þ Scissors …………………………………………………..
Þ Ruler ……………………………………………………….
Þ Clear plas6c sheet of thick quality …………..
Þ Marker …………………………………………………….
Þ Toothpicks ……………………………………………….
Þ Tape ………………………………………………………..
Þ Sink …………………………………………………………
Þ Eye Dropper ……………………………………………
Þ Liquid Laundary Detergent ……………………..
Þ Liquid Hand Soap …………………………………….
Þ Toothpaste ………………………………………………
Þ Vegetable Oil …………………………………………..
Þ Table Salt …………………………………………………
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
1. Cut the sponge into at least 10 small, identically
sized pieces (cubes of side 1.5cm). The sponge will fit
into a space cut in the back of the raft.
2. Make a rough shape of the raft on the
transparencies. The raft should be symmetric and
should be small enough that it can travel a short
distance in the basin or sink, but still be large enough
to hold the sponge piece. An initial size of 7-13cm long
and a width that's approximately half of the length
was taken. A space in the back of the raft was cut.
The sponge will fit here.
3. The raft was cut out
4. Run a toothpick horizontally through one of the
small sponge pieces so enough of the two ends of the
toothpick can rest on the transparency, then attach
the toothpick ends with tape so that the sponge is
attached to the small space at the back of the raft.
5. Fill the sink with tap water
6. Put the raft onto the water surface and let it float.
7. Using an eye dropper, put a drop of liquid laundry
detergent onto the sponge at the end of the raft. If one
drop is not enough, put one or two more. The raft does
not require much detergent to start moving.
8. Observe the motion. Record all observations in
the notebook.
9. Empty the basin or sink. Also rinse the raft,
especially the sponge piece, to get all of the
detergent off of it
10. Repeat steps 5-9 with the same raft and sponge
at least two more times
11. Replace the sponge on the raft with a fresh
sponge.
12. Fill up the basin or sink with fresh water
13. Put the raft onto the water surface and let it
float.
14. Put a drop of liquid hand soap onto the sponge
at the end of the raft.
15. Observe the motion and compare it to the first
raft, which used detergent.
16. Repeat the above steps with rest of the
materials to be tested.
OBSERVATION TABLE
Fastest
Substance Did the Raft Move? Speed?
Used (Yes/No)
(Yes/No)
Liquid Laundry
Detergent Yes Yes
Liquid Hand
Soap Yes No
Alcohol Yes No
Vegetable
Oil Yes No
Table
Salt No -----
RESULT
Surface Tension of liquids are in the
following order:
Table Salt > Vegetable oil > Alcohol >
Liquid Hand Soap > Liquid Laundry
Detergent
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• NCERT PHYSICS BOOK
(STANDARD 11)
• WWW.SCRIBD.COM
• WWW.WIKIPEDIA.ORG
• WWW.SCIENCEBUDDIES.ORG
• WWW.YOUTUBE.COM
• WWW.GOOGLE.COM
• WWW.QUORA.COM
• WWW.BYJUS.COM
• WWW.TOPPR.COM
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