Falling Ball Viscometer

FALLING BALL VISCOMETER
AIM
The purpose of this experiment is to measure the viscosity of unknown oil with a falling ball
viscometer.
PRINCIPLE
The principle of the viscometer is to determine the falling time of a sphere with known
density and diameter within a fluid filled inside glass tube. The viscosity of the fluid sample
is related to the time taken by the sphere to pass between two specified lines on the
cylindrical tube.
APPARATUS
Figure 1 is a schematic of a falling ball viscometer. A sphere of known density and diameter
is dropped into a large reservoir of the unknown fluid. At steady state, the viscous drag and
buoyant force of the sphere is balanced by the gravitational force. In this experiment, the
speed at which a sphere falls through a viscous fluid is measured by recording the sphere
position as a function of time. Position is measured with a vertical scale (ruler) and time is
measured with a stopwatch.
Figure 1. Body diagram for the falling ball viscometer

THEORY
Velocity of the sphere which is falling through the tube is dependent on the viscosity of the
fluid. When a sphere is placed in an infinite incompressible Newtonian fluid, it initially
accelerates due to gravity. After this brief transient period, the sphere achieves a steady
settling velocity (a constant terminal velocity). For the velocity to be steady (no change in
linear momentum), Newton’s second law requires that the net forces acting on the sphere
(gravity (FG), buoyancy (FB), and fluid drag (FD) balance) equals to zero. All these forces act
vertically are defined as follows:
𝜋
Gravity : 𝐹𝐺 = − 6 𝜌𝑝 𝑑𝑝3 𝑔
𝜋
Buoyancy : 𝐹𝐵 = + 6 𝜌𝑓 𝑑𝑝3 𝑔
𝜋
Fluid Drag : 𝐹𝐷 = 8 𝜌𝑓 𝑉𝑝2 𝑑𝑝2 𝐶𝐷
Where ρp is the density of the solid sphere, ρf is the density of the fluid, dp is the diameter of
the solid sphere, g is the gravitational acceleration (9.8 m/s2), Vp is the velocity of the sphere,
and CD is the drag coefficient. The particle accelerates to a steady velocity when the net force
acting on sphere becomes zero:
𝐹𝐺 − 𝐹𝐵 − 𝐹𝐷 = 0.
The drag force acts upwards and is expressed in terms of a dimensionless drag coefficient.
The drag coefficient is a function of the dimensionless Reynolds number, Re. The Reynolds
number can be interpreted as the ratio of inertial forces to viscous forces. For a sphere settling
in a viscous fluid the Reynolds number is
𝜌𝑉𝑝 𝑑𝑝
𝑅𝑒 =
𝜇
where μ is the viscosity of the fluid. If the drag coefficient as a function of Reynolds number
is known, the terminal velocity can be calculated. For the Stokes regime, Re<1, the drag
24
coefficient can be determined analytically. In this regime, 𝐶𝐷 = 𝑅𝑒 and the settling velocity is
𝑔𝑑𝑝2 (𝜌𝑝 − 𝜌𝑓 )
𝑉𝑝 =
18𝜇
The falling ball viscometer requires the measurement of a sphere’s terminal velocity, usually
by measuring the time required for sphere to fall a given distance. In this experiment, we
measure the position of a sphere as a function of time and determine the steady state settling
velocity. From this, we can calculate the viscosity from below equation given. For Reynolds
number (Re<1), the equation of viscosity would be
𝑔𝑑𝑝2 (𝜌𝑝 − 𝜌𝑓 )𝑡𝑝

𝜇=
18𝐿
Regardless of the Re, the settling velocity depends on the sphere diameter, the sphere density,
the fluid density and the gravitational constant.
PROCEDURE
Measure the diameter of the sphere. Measure it multiple times to gain an accurate
measurement and to determine the relative error in the measurement.
The viscosity can be determined by measuring the position of the sphere as a function of time
as it settles through the unknown fluid.
For each sphere
1. Place the sphere near the top of the fluid reservoir. Try to get the sphere as close as
possible to the air-fluid interface.
2. Release the sphere and start the stopwatch as soon as the sphere reaches the top line
marked on the glass tube and stop it as it reaches the bottom marked line.
3. As the sphere settles, record its position as a function of time. (it may be more efficient to
have one person drop the sphere, one person run the stopwatch, and the third to read the time
off the stopwatch).
Observation:
1. Density of sphere = 2500 Kg/m3.
2. Density of fluid = 956.1 Kg/m3.
OBSERVATION TABLE
Ball Viscosity
Terminal
Ball Ball Density Reynolds µ, Kg/m- Standard
Sr. No velocity, Vp,
Dia (m) (kg/m3) number s Deviation
m/s
NRe
1
Average
Calculation Table:
S NO.
Distance (m) Time (Sec.)
1
2
3
4
5
Average
CONCLUSION/DISCUSSION ON THE RESULT:

1. Write down the observations.
2. Try to explain the results from theory studied earlier.
FURTHER READING
1. Introduction to Fluid Mechanics 8th Edition, by Fox, Robert W. and McDonald, Alan T. ,
Chapter 1, PROBLEM NO. 1.2
TEACHING ASSISTANT:

Falling Ball Viscometer

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FALLING BALL VISCOMETER

Figure 1. Body diagram for the falling ball viscometer

𝑔𝑑𝑝2 (𝜌𝑝 − 𝜌𝑓 )𝑡𝑝

CONCLUSION/DISCUSSION ON THE RESULT:

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