CEP1: Investigation of surface tension of fluid

GHULAM ISHAQ KHAN INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING SCIENCES

AND TECHNOLOGY

GROUP MEMBERS
MUHAMMAD NASIR 2017300
WAJID ALI KHAN 2017498
UBAIDULLAH 2017480
SAAD AHMAD TOOR 2017905

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CEP1: Investigation of surface tension of fluid

Table of contents:
1. Literature review
2. Introduction
3. Problem statement
4. Research objective
5. Experimental investigation
6. Extraction of parameters and analysis
7. Research methodology
8. Results and discussion
9. Conclusion
10. Acknowledgement
11. references
1.

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CEP1: Investigation of surface tension of fluid

TITLE
The use of Washburn equation for
Investigation of surface tension of fluid
Keywords—surface tension, contact angle, Capillary rise, Washburn equation.

Literature review:
Washburn's equation describes capillary flow in a bundle of parallel cylindrical tubes; it is
extended with some issues also to imbibition into porous materials. The equation is named
after Edward Wight Washburn’s. The Washburn equation is:

ɼ × cosα × r × t
l 2=
2× n

Where l is the length of liquid intrusion, ɼ is the surface tension of water,α is the contact angle,
rrepresent the pore radius and n represent the viscosity of water.(1)

Capillary rise is a fundamental phenomenon existing in many natural processes and

human activities(2). Knowledge of capillarity laws is important in chemical
metallurgy, and ceramic industry, in oil recovery and civil engineering, in dyeing of
textile fabrics, ink printing, and a variety of other fields. This explains the continuous
interest in the subject from the side of industry and fundamental science. (3)

Experimental method based on capillary rise is widely used for porous media
characterization (i.e. pore radius, contact angle, free surface energy). Among them
measurement of height penetration and mass gain of wetting liquids in time are most
commonly employed. In both approaches, Washburn’s equation is a basic instrument
for analysis of obtained results. For a long time of using this equation, many
modifications have been applied and although critics, Washburn’s equation presents
useful model for evaluation of porous media observed in industrial practice.

Introduction:
We are going to find surface tension of water through capillary tube method. It is widely used
method for finding the contact angle, two dimensional flow analysis and surface tension etc.
capillary action or capillary rise is the upward motion of water in a tube against the force of
gravity. It is a combination of cohesive, adhesive and surface tension forces.(4)

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CEP1: Investigation of surface tension of fluid

Adhesion of water to the walls of a vessel will cause an upward force on the liquid at the edges
and result in a meniscus, which turns upward. (5)The surface tension acts to hold the surface
intact. Capillary action occurs when the adhesion to the walls is stronger than the cohesive
forces between the liquid molecules.(6)

Problem statement:
Investigate the surface tension of water using the Lucas-Washburn equation for a straight 1-
dimensional paper channel. You can cut this channel with the help of scissors or blade. Perform
as many experiments for accurately determining all variables involved. If it is not possible, use
values from previous literature.

Research objectives:
The main objective of this research is to find the nature of surface tension force of water by using
the Washburn equation. The Washburn equation describes the flow of a liquid under its own
capillary force in a vertical tube(7). By using the Washburn equation, we successfully
accomplish our task of finding the surface tension force.

Experimental investigation:
How we perform the experiment, the brief overview is the following.
First we make several cut section of our Whatman grade 41 filter paper. Then we put some water
in a beaker and put a scale in it. We then put a strip of paper into the beaker vertically along with
the scale for reference dimension. The water starts to move upward due to adhesive forces

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CEP1: Investigation of surface tension of fluid

between water and the beaker wall. As the water starts moving, at that instant we on mobile
camera and start the video. We repeat this process for three times.

Extraction of parameters and analysis:

We are using lucus Washburn equation in which there are certain parameter to find.

(1)

Where l the length of liquid intrusion, ɼ is is the surface tension of water, α is the
contact angle, rrepresent the pore radius and n represent the viscosity of water. We find the
contact angle by using imagej software .And the result were the following. We put a drop of
water on wahtman paper and took image immediately the we insert that image into imagj and
find the contact angle. Which is depicted in the following figure.

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CEP1: Investigation of surface tension of fluid

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CEP1: Investigation of surface tension of fluid

We found out that the contact angle was 89.6 degrees.

The other parameter we work on was the pore radius. Since we use whatman filter paper of
grade 41 so we use 20µm. we find this pore radius from catalogue(8).

Research methodology:
Apparatus:
 Beaker
 Scale
 Mobile phone

The video we made earlier is now analyzed by us by taking the screen short by vlc media player
and then using imagej software to find the relation for length vs time with known scale. The
scale we set was like the following.

For reference:

(9)

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CEP1: Investigation of surface tension of fluid

We repeat this process for three times and then take the average of the lengths and we plot
the curve for the flow profile. We then fit the curve with a constant K = 0.0058 and again. We
got the following graph.

Experimental data for three experiment:

Graph for curve fit:

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CEP1: Investigation of surface tension of fluid

After we find all the parameters and the curve fit we come to the mathematical part and find
surface tension by using the Washburn equation.

Mathematical calculation: As Washburn equation is given by,

(1)

≫ l2 =kt

γ × cosθ ×r
Where k= eq (1) also we find the value of k from the curve fit as 0.0058
2× η

η=8.90 ×10−4 pa . s θ=86 degrees (9)

(9)
r =10 μm (8)
γ × cos ⁡(86)× 10 μm
Eq(1) ≫ 0.0058= 2 × 8.90× 10−4 pa . s
≫ γ =0.07208 N /m

Discussion:
We find the value of surface tension of water to be equal to 0.07208 N/m., which is very close
to the actual value of surface tension. The comparison is given in the following table.

Actual value (N/m) Experimental (N/m) Error

0.0734(10) 0.07208 0.0734−0.07208
%Error=
0.0734
=1.79%

Therefore, the error in our experiment is 1.79%, which is not that much and is acceptable.

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CEP1: Investigation of surface tension of fluid

Conclusion: With the assumption that water and the beaker is hydrophilic, we find the
value of surface tension of water as 0.07208 N/m.
The reason for error is parallax error, taking the screen short not at the same interval and there
might some error in the scaling.

Acknowledgment: we appreciate the support of Sir Ali Turab Jaffery who help us a
lot in tackling the problems that we were facing during doing this CEP.

References:
1. <1992 The use of the Washburn method in determining the contact angles of lactose
powder.pdf>.
2. Nylander T. Analytical Approach for the Lucas–Washburn Equation. Journal of colloid and
interface science. 2002;250:415-21.
3. <s47-65.pdf>.
4. Bradley RS. LXXIX. The cohesive force between solid surfaces and the surface energy of solids.
The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science. 1932;13(86):853-62.
5. Princen H. Capillary phenomena in assemblies of parallel cylinders: I. Capillary rise between two
cylinders. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science. 1969;30(1):69-75.
6. Richards TW, Carver EK. A CRITICAL STUDY OF THE CAPILLARY RISE METHOD OF DETERMINING
SURFACE TENSION, WITH DATA FOR WATER, BENZENE, TOLUENE, CHLOROFORM, CARBON
TETRACHLORIDE, ETHER AND DIMETHYL ANILINE.[SECOND PAPER.]. Journal of the American Chemical
Society. 1921;43(4):827-47.
7. Fisher LR, Lark PD. An experimental study of the Washburn equation for liquid flow in very fine
capillaries. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science. 1979;69(3):486-92.
8. merck. Whatman® quantitative filter paper, ashless, Grade 41. may,2017.
9. Jafry AT, Lim H, Kang SI, Suk JW, Lee J. A comparative study of paper-based microfluidic devices
with respect to channel geometry. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects.
2016;492:190-8.
10. Vargaftik N, Volkov B, Voljak L. International tables of the surface tension of water. Journal of
Physical and Chemical Reference Data. 1983;12(3):817-20.

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