A liquid’s resistance to flow is known as a liquid’s viscosity. The slower a liquid flows, the higher its viscosity is. The faster a liquid flows, the lower its viscosity is. How does temperature affect viscosity?
Materials Needed
- 2 large jars
- Syrup or molasses
- Refrigerator
- 2 small jars
- stopwatch
Procedures
- Put ½ cup syrup in each large jar. Place one of the jars in the refrigerator over night. Leave the other jar at room temperature over night.
- The next day, pour the refrigerated syrup into one of the small jars and time how long it takes to empty the jar. Then pour the room temperature syrup into the other small jar and record how long it takes to empty that jar.
What Happened?
The cold syrup will take longer to pour because the particles in the cold syrup are closer together and exert a stronger force upon each other than the warmer particles of syrup.
