Name: George Nogueira de Oliveira D14124795

Co-worker: Niamh Ryan

Title: Fluid Properties Density and Viscosity

Abstract
Fluids are substances that play an important role in human life. Thus, the need of
measure and recognize some of its properties is crucial. Among some of them it is the
viscosity. Nowadays, different methods are applied in industrial and academic level to
measure the viscosity of fluids. In this experiment a falling sphere viscometer was
utilized to analyze the viscosity of three fluids. In addition the viscosity of fluids in
different temperatures was obtained utilizing a rotating viscometer. The results showed
that just the values from one of the fluids can be trustful.

Introduction
Fluids play an important role in human life: people breathe and drink it. Also, a vital fluid
circulates in the human cardiovascular system. Fluid is a substance (gas or liquid) that
flows; they are able to get the shape of any recipient that may contain them. This
happens due to the resistance of a fluid to the shear force, tangential to its surface
(WALKER, 2014).
Not all liquids flow in the same way, for instance honey or syrup poured from a
container flows more slowly than water, therefore honey resists the pull of gravity more
than water resists the same pulling force; honey is said to be more viscous. Viscosity
measures the tendency of a fluid to resist flow. In addition, fluids can transmit forces
from one surface to another and their behaviour can be simple (called Newtonian
fluids) or complexes (non-Newtonian fluids) (MORRISON, 2013).
There are different methods to measure the viscosity of a fluid: rotating viscometer,
Cannon-Fenske viscometer, falling sphere viscometer, etc. The last one measures the
viscosity through the forces acting in a sphere. When an object falls through a fluid, its
speed is determined by the forces that are acting on it, this speed is known as terminal
velocity. In the case of a sphere the present forces are Weight, Buoyance and Drag,
they are related in the following equation:
Weight Buoyance Drag = 0

(1)
(2)

Where s and are density of sphere and liquid respectively, V is the sphere terminal
velocity, R is the radius of the sphere and m is the viscosity of the liquid. Solving the
equation above, the viscosity of the liquid can be determined (JANNA, 2012). In this
report an experiment to measure the density and viscosity of different fluids is
mentioned. In the particular case of viscosity, two methodologies were applied: one
utilizing the falling sphere viscometer and other one using rotating viscometer.
The equation 2, can be rearranged to solve for the dynamic viscosity of a fluid, as can
be seen in the equation bellow:

(29 ) r g ( - ) / V
2

(3)

Results
A. Density and viscosity meaurements
The densities of the test fluids were found weighting a known volume of the liquid using
a graduated cylinder, which capacity was 25 cm 3 (mL), the values of density obtained
are displayed in the table below:
Table 1. Values of density for different fluids.

(kg. m-3)
895.28
1281.28
1058.76
2.460

Test Fluids
Oil
Glycerin
Shampoo
Glass Sphere

The temperature in which the measures were done was 23 C. The distance which the
glass sphere travelled was different for each fluid. The time of travel from each sphere
was likewise obtained; therefore the terminal velocity from the spheres in the different
fluids was determined.
Table 2. Measure results from falling sphere viscometer.

Fluid

Trial

Time (s)

Sphere
Diameter (m)

Velocity (m/s)

Oil
Glycerin

1
2

2,10
3,20

0,00403
0,00356

0,1204
0,0805

Shampoo

8,82

0,00387

0,0306

Once the values of terminal velocity for each trial were found, they were used in the
equation 3, given in the introduction, to calculate the value of the dynamic viscosity for
each trial. These values were displayed in the table below:
Table 3. Calculated dynamic viscosity for each trial

Fluid

Trial

Oil
Glycerin
Shampoo

1
2
3

Vicosity
(N.s/m2)
0,133
0,157
0,476

When the dynamic viscosity was found, the calculation of the cinematic viscosity is
allowed. Thus, it was found values for the cinematic viscosity, which is related to the
speed in which the fluid is able to flow. The data obtained was displayed in the table
below:

Table 4. Values for kinematic viscosity

Oil
Glycerin
Shampoo

Trial

Kinematic
Viscosity (N.s/m2)

1
2
3

0,000149
0,000123
0,000450

In order to verify if the values found are mathematically accurate, the Reynolds number
of each trial was calculate to validate the the calculations, as the equation is only valid
for Reynolds numbers less than one. The Reynolds numbers are shown in the table
below:
Table 5. Reynolds numbers of individual time trials.

Oil
Glycerin
Shampoo

Trial
1
2
3

Reynolds Number
3,259
2,338
0,264

B. Viscosity measurement using rotating viscometer

In the second part of the experiment the absolute viscosity of various fluids was
measured utilizing a rotating viscometer. The values obtained to are displayed in the
following table:
Table 6. Values of viscosity using rotating viscometer.

Glycerol
Shampoo
Bath Cream
Honey
Honey (warm)

Absolute Viscosity
(mPa)
458
6718
14390
15960
5130
5110

Temperature (C)
20.7
20.2
20.5
21.9
24.6
23.7

It was found a relationship between the absolute viscosity and different temperatures.
However, the shear stress and shear rate was not possible to measure, as the special
adaptor of the cylindrical spindle (LCP) of the instrument was not available.
Discussion
Density () is the proportion of mass (m) to volume in an amount of material. To find the
density of a fluid at any point a small volume element is isolated around that point and

the mass of the fluid contained within that element is measured. The measures of
density showed that the more dense fluid was the glycerine (1281.28 kg.m-3). In second
place came the shampoo (1058,76 kg.m-3) and finally the oil (895.28 kg.m-3).
Q1) The unknown density of a substance can be determined using the known density
of the liquid for buoyance and two mass values. Reciprocally, the density of liquids can
be determined from one mass value and the known density of the immersed body.
There are two basically different procedures for hydrostatic weighing methods: the
Buoyance and displacement method.
Q2) Aside the temperature the density of gaseous materials also depends on pressure,
this means that air density chances when the air pressure changes. It can be
measured by normal density: the density of a gas (or combination of gases) under
normal physical conditions: Temperature = 0 C, pressure P = 101.325 kPa.
Q3) Rigid uniform solids: determining the density of the solid body with the allowance
for the air buoyance.
Rigid non-uniform solids: displacement method.
Porous solid: pycnometers can be used to measure the density of porous solid.
However, the sample must firstly be crushed or ground to the point where all porous
are open. It can be measured using solid density, true density, bulk density, apparent
porosity, open porosity and close porosity.
Q4) Bulk density is the quotient of mass and total volume of a sample. It is an average
of the density of the solid and the gas found in the pores.
Q5) The density of all solid, gas or liquid material depends on temperature. The higher
the temperature, the lower the density. When materials are heated, their volume
expands. So, the density of materials will decreases as their volume increases.
Q6) The specific value indicates the weight force in relation to the volume. The
difference between density and specific gravity is that the calculation of specific gravity
includes the gravitational acceleration (g).
Q7) In the International System of Units, the unity for density is kg/m3.
Q8) The definition of fluid was given in the introduction.
Q9) The following properties are fluid characteristics: density, specific weight, relative
density (specific gravity) and viscosity.
The fluid in which the glass sphere got more difficult to reach the bottom of the
graduated cylinder was the shampoo, as it got more time of travel. Also, when the

speed of travel of the glass sphere was calculated, the solution of shampoo presented
the highest value. This happens due to the fact that fluid forces presented in the
shampoo slow the motion of the object and, ultimately, the downward force due to the
gravity is balanced by the retarding fluid forces.
Following the experiments, the values of the terminal speed allowed the calculation of
the dynamic viscosity and therefore the values of cinematic viscosity were determined.
It is noteworthy that they are different from each other, even when they were analysed
in the same fluid and for different fluids. (Q1) This is due to the difference of sphere
diameters used during the experiment, consequently the weight of the spheres would
be significantly different. The weight would increase proportionately to the buoyance
force as it is directly related to the mass of fluid which has been represented. The
change in the size would cause a change in the drag force. Thus, the terminal velocity
of the larger sphere would be significantly higher than that of the smaller sphere.
When the absolute viscosity from different materials was measured in a rotating
viscometer, different values of absolute viscosity were obtained. As it can be seen in
the table above, when honey viscosity was measured in two different temperatures, the
viscosity to the highest temperature was bigger than to the lowest temperature. (Q2)
The temperature plays an important role in the density measurements, as it was
mentioned above. In the case studied, and according to the data obtained, the higher
temperature means that the fluid will flow easier. For instance, when a honey jar is kept
in a fridge its flux becomes more difficult as there are forces acting over the honey and
transmitting through the material, making it more resistant to the flow.
(Q3) For opaque it is hard to determine when the sample has passed a point in the
tube, so it is necessary to find another methodology to measure the viscosity of this
kind of material. To measure the viscosity from a gas, other methodology should be
adopted.
(Q4) Dynamic viscosity: it describes a fluids resistance to flow. The physical unit to the
dynamic viscosity is the Pascal-second (Pa.s) in the System International. If a fluid with
viscosity of one Pa.S is placed between two plates and one plate is pushed sideways
with a shear stress of one Pascal, it moves a distance equals to the thickness of the
layer between the plates in one second.
Kinematic Viscosity: its unit in the SI is m 2/s. It is the measurement of viscosity by
timing the flow of a known volume of fluid from a viscosity measuring cup. The timings
can be used along with a formula to estimate the kinematic viscosity value of the fluid
in Centistokes (cSt).

Fluidity: the reciprocal of viscosity, depending on the convention used, it is measured in

reciprocal poise (cm.s.g-1), sometimes called the rhe. It is seldom used in engineering
practice.
(Q5) The method applied in this experiment is not suitable to fluids like peanut butter,
ointment, grease or flour dough, as this fluids are known as non-Newtonian fluid and
therefore they present deviations from other kinds of fluids.
(Q7) The Reynolds number is a non-dimensional quantity that is used to help predict
similar flow patterns in different fluid flow situations. Other definition is that the ratio of
the inertia force ( V L) and the viscous or friction force (). It can be expressed as:
Re = V L /
Where, Re = Reynolds number; = density (kg/m3); V = kinematic viscosity; L =
characteristic length (m, ft) and is de dynamic viscosity.

Conclusion
The kinematic and dynamic viscosity of three differents (oil, glycerine, shampoo) fluids
was obtained from the falling sphere viscometer. Different viscosities were found and it
is possible to conclude, according to the Reynolds number, than the only one equation
that can be mathematically validated is the one related to the shampoo.
Moreover, it was observed, utilizing a rotating viscometer, that when a substance is
heated its viscosity is different from the moment when the measure is done in an
ambient temperature.

Bibliography
Janna, William S. A Manual for the Mechanics of Fluid Laboratory. Department of
Mechanical Engineering, The University of Memphis, 2012.
Morrison, Faith A. An Introdution to Fluid Mechanics. Cambridge University Press, 1 st
Edition, New York, 2013.
Walker, J.; Hallyday, D.; Resnick, R. Fundamentals of Physics. Wiley, 10th Edition
(Extended Edition), 2014.