SOLVED EXAMPLES ON VISCOSITY

Example 1

Consider two identical small glass balls dropped into two

identical containers, one filled with water and the other with
oil. Which ball will reach the bottom of the container first?
?Why

When two identical small glass balls dropped into two

identical containers, one filled with water and the other
with oil, the ball dropped in water will reach the bottom of
the container first because of the much lower viscosity of
.water relative to oil
EXAMPLE 2
 Consider a fluid layer of thickness within a small gap
between two concentric cylinders, such as the thin layer of
oil in a journal bearing. The gap between the cylinders can
be modeled as two parallel flat plates separated by
a fluid. Noting that torque is T FR (force times the moment
arm, which is the radius R of the inner cylinder in this case),
the tangential velocity is V =ωR (angular velocity times the
radius), and taking the wetted surface area of the inner
cylinder to be A (2πRL) by disregarding the shear stress
acting on the two ends of the inner cylinder, torque can be
expressed as
V
F  A  A
l
where L is the length of the cylinder and n is the number of revolutions per
unit time, which is usually expressed in rpm (revolutions per minute). Note
that the angular distance traveled during one rotation is 2π rad, and thus the
. relation between the angular velocity in rad/min and the rpm is ω = 2πn
.
Therefore, two concentric cylinders can be used as a viscometer, a device
.that measures viscosity
EXAMPLE 3
EXAMPLE 4
EXAMPLE 5
EXAMPLE 6
SURFACE TENSION AND CAPILLARY EFFECT

It is often observed that a drop of blood forms a hump on a

;horizontal glass
a drop of mercury forms a near-perfect sphere and can be
;rolled just like a steel ball over a smooth surface
water droplets from rain or dew hang from branches or
;leaves of trees
a liquid fuel injected into an engine forms a mist of
;spherical droplets
a soap bubble released into the air forms a spherical
;shape
water beads up into small drops on flower petals
In these and other observances, liquid droplets behave like small
spherical balloons filled with the liquid, and the surface of the liquid
.acts like a stretched elastic membrane under tension

The pulling force that causes this tension acts parallel to the surface
and is due to the attractive forces between the molecules of the liquid.
The magnitude of this force per unit length is called surface tension
.and is usually expressed in the unit N/m
Therefore, there is a net attractive force acting on the
molecule at the surface of the liquid, which tends to pull
the molecules on the surface toward the interior of the
liquid. This force is balanced by the repulsive forces from
the molecules below the surface that are being
.compressed

The resulting compression effect causes the liquid to

minimize its surface area. This is the reason for the
tendency of the liquid droplets to attain a spherical
shape, which has the minimum surface area for a given
.volume
To understand the surface tension effect better, consider a
liquid film (such as the film of a soap bubble) suspended on a
U-shaped wire frame with a movable side

A force F needs to be applied on

the movable wire in the opposite
direction to balance this pulling
.effect

The thin film in the device has

two surfaces (the top and bottom
surfaces) exposed to air, and thus
the length along which the
tension acts in this case is 2b.
Then a force balance on the
movable wire gives
 When the movable wire is pulled a distance ∆x, the
surface area increases by ∆ A = 2b ∆ x, and the work
done W during this stretching process is

The surface energy of the film is increased during this

.stretching process

Surface tension also can be defined as the work done

.per unit increase in the surface area of the liquid
 The surface tension of a liquid, in general, decreases
.with temperature
The effect of pressure on surface tension is usually
negligible
The surface tension of a substance
can be changed considerably by
.impurities
Therefore, certain chemicals, called
surfactants, can be added to a
.liquid to decrease its surface tension
For example, soaps and detergents
lower the surface tension of water
and enable it to penetrate through
the small openings between fibers
.for more effective washing
 Capillary Effect
Another interesting consequence of surface tension is
the capillary effect, which is the rise or fall of a liquid in
.a small-diameter tube inserted into the liquid

Such narrow tubes or confined flow channels are called

.capillaries

The rise of kerosene through a cotton wick inserted into

.the reservoir of a kerosene lamp is due to this effect

The capillary effect is also partially responsible for the

rise of water to the top of tall trees. The curved free
surface of a liquid in a capillary tube is called the
.meniscus
 It is commonly observed that water in a glass container
curves up slightly at the edges where it touches the
glass surface; but the opposite occurs for mercury: it
. curves down at the edges

This effect is usually expressed by saying that water

wets the glass (by sticking to it) while mercury does
.not
The strength of the capillary effect is
quantified by the contact (or wetting)
angle φ, defined as the angle that
the tangent to the liquid surface
. makes with the solid surface

A liquid is said to wet the surface

when φ < 90° and not to wet the
.surface when φ > 90°
 In atmospheric air, the contact angle of water (and most
other organic liquids) with glass is nearly zero, φ ˜ 0°
Therefore, the surface tension force acts upward on
,water in a glass tube along the circumference
.tending to pull the water up

As a result, water rises in the tube until the

weight of the liquid in the tube above the liquid level
of the reservoir balances the surface tension force.
The contact angle is 130° for mercury–glass
.and 26° for kerosene–glass in air
The phenomenon of capillary effect can be explained
microscopically by considering cohesive forces (the
forces between like molecules, such as water and water)
and adhesive forces (the forces between unlike
,molecules
.)such as water and glass

The liquid molecules at the solid–liquid interface

are subjected to both cohesive forces by other liquid
molecules and adhesive forces by the molecules of the
.solid

The relative magnitudes of these forces determine

whether a liquid wets a solid surface or not. Obviously,
the water
molecules are more strongly attracted to the glass
molecules than they are to other water molecules, and
thus water tends to rise along the glass surface. The
opposite occurs for mercury, which causes the liquid
surface near the
Note that the capillary rise is inversely proportional to the radius of the
tube. Therefore, the thinner the tube is, the greater the rise (or fall) of the
liquid in the tube. In practice, the capillary effect is usually negligible in
.tubes whose diameter is greater than 1 cm