Investigating the Properties of Oils Coursework

Investigating the Properties of Oils - Coursework Example The cup viscometer measures the kinematic velocity of a fluid and the unit of viscosity measured by such a viscometer is centistokes (Viswanath). Purpose: To determine the viscosity of a given sample of lubricating oil of unknown viscosity, with the help of a Cup Viscometer and different commercially available oils of known viscosity. It can be hypothesized that as the viscosity increases, the flow decreases and thus the efflux time increases, i.e. substances with a higher viscosity would take more time to efflux from the cup viscometer to the beaker. Methodology: In this experiment a cup viscometer will be used to determine the viscosity of a sample of lubricating oil of unknown viscosity. The cup viscometer will first be constructed by using disposable Styrofoam cups and subsequently be used to measure the viscosity. The following equipment will be required to conduct the experiment: Three different types of commonly available oils with known viscosities, viz. Olive Oil Soyabean Oi l Kerosene Oil A sample of the oil whose viscosity is to be determined, viz. lubricating oil Four disposable Styrofoam cups Burette Clamp or stand Four 100 ml graduated Cylinders Four beakers A skewer of uniform diameter to punch holes Scotch Tape An accurate Stopwatch The first part of the experiment is to construct a cup viscometer using disposable Styrofoam cups and calibrating it using oils of known viscosities. Four disposable Styrofoam cups are taken and holes are punched in their bottoms using a skewer of uniform diameter. One should be extremely careful while punching holes in order to ensure that all four holes are of the same diameter. Once the holes have been punched, scotch tape has to be applied at the bottom of all the cups in order to prevent the oil from leaking once it has been poured in to the cups. The cups are then marked as A, B or C, one for each different oil of known viscosity. The next step is the calibration of the cup viscometers prepared. This is achieved via pouring measured quantities (i.e. 60 ml) of the three different oils of known viscosities in to three different cup viscometers. Olive Oil is placed in Cup A, Soyabean Oil in Cup B and Kerosene Oil in Cup C. This can be achieved by using a graduated measuring cylinder to measure out 60 ml of each oil into the respective cups. While filling the graduated cylinders, it should be ensured that the cylinder is placed in a flat horizontal surface, in order to avoid any errors in measurements. Moreover, it is important to remember that most solutions would form a concave meniscus. Thus, while reading a meniscus, the bottom of the meniscus should be read and the meniscus should be kept at eye level in order to avoid parallax errors. Moreover, the meniscus should be read against a uniform background, which can be achieved by placing a white sheet of paper behind the level of the liquid. Once all the cups have been filled, one of the cups (i.e. Cup A) is suspended in a burette clamp and a beaker is placed underneath. The scotch tape is then carefully removed and the stopwatch started in order to time the experiment. The time required for 60 ml of Olive Oil to flow from the cup in to the beaker is recorded. The timing should start immediately after the removal of the scotch tape and should