Fluid-Dynamics

Fluid Dynamics

Objective:  This labs objective was to use the Bernoulli equation to figure out the time it takes to drain an amount of water from a bucket with a hole in the bottom and use this to examine experimental error.

Equipment:
A bucket with a small hole drilled into the side
Tap water
Graduated cylinder
Ruler
Stopwatch


Procedure:

The procedure for this experiment consisted of taking the bucket of water and sealing off the hole. Then adding water to it until the desired height. A graduated cylinder is then used to measure the amount of time for a specific volume to exit the hole. This value is then compared to a theoretically calculated amount based on the given dimensions of equipment.

H of water

Bucket

Experiment

Resusts: After performing the experiment, an average time of 9.84 seconds was measured, this along with each individual trial is above 100% error when compared with the theoretical value obtained using the given diameter of the hole of 6.35 mm or 0.25 in. As a result of this an assumption was made that the given diameter was incorrect and using the given time equation along with some algebra the calculated diameter came out to be approximately 3 mm resulting in a percent error between the diameter's of 75%. This result shows that depending on the reported value of the drill bit used to make the hole, is not accurate enough to produce good results. The large amount of error can also be attributed to the assumptions made of this being an ideal case. This method assumes the final velocity will be sqrt(2gh).

Table of important data

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