A Low-Cost Experiment on Newtonian and Non-Newtonian Fluids

Manuel Dolz , Jesús Delegido , Alejandro Casanovas and María-Jesús Hernández
Departament de Termodinàmica, Facultats de Farmàcia i Física, Universitat de València, València, Spain
J. Chem. Educ., 2005, 82 (3), p 445
DOI: 10.1021/ed082p445
Publication Date (Web): March 1, 2005
History, Education, and Documentation

Abstract

An experiment to study the flow of Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids is proposed. The method is based on measurement of the drag force on a sphere immersed in a moving fluid. The sphere–fluid relative velocity can be changed to obtain the dependence of the shear stress on velocity. This dependence shows the differences in flow of Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids: decreasing viscosities with increasing velocities are obtained for shear-thinning fluids, while constant values of viscosity with velocity are obtained for Newtonian fluids. Although there is practical interest in the flow of non-Newtonian fluids, the high cost of commercial rotational viscometers used to determine the non-Newtonian behaviour makes them inconvenient for use as dedicated instruments in undergraduates' laboratories. The purpose of this experiment is to show Newtonian and shear-thinning flow to undergraduates using common components of a laboratory.

Keywords (Audience):

Upper-Division Undergraduate

Keywords (Domain):

Laboratory Instruction

Keywords (Pedagogy):

Hands-On Learning / Manipulatives

Keywords (Subject):

Laboratory Equipment / Apparatus
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History

  • Received: August 03, 2009

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