Question:
What is the effect of height from which a drop of water falls
on the size of the drop print?
Equipment:
- Eye dropper
- food coloring
- water
- small plastic cup
- index card
- metric ruler
Procedure:
- Formulate and record a hypothesis to answer the question: What
will happen to the size of a drop print as you raise the dropper?
- Add 2 drops of food coloring to the plastic cup, and fill it
half full of water.
- Construct a data table including columns to record the height
of the dropper and the width of the drop print. Go from a dropper
height of 2 cm to 20 cm by increments of 2 cm.
- Partially fill the eye dropper with the colored water. Hold
the metric ruler vertically on the index card.
- Place the tip of the dropper at the 2 cm mark. Slowly squeeze
the bulb and allow one drop to drip onto the card.
- Immediately measure and record the width of the drop print.
- Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each height listed in the data table.
- Make a line graph of the results.
Questions:
- What was the drop print size when the dropper was held at the
12 cm mark?
- Why was the food coloring used?
- How does your hypothesis compare with the results of the
activity?
- What variable was controlled?
- What is the effect of drop height on the size of the drop
prints?
- Why did you have to measure the drop print size immediately?