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Investigation of surface tension of water using the Lucas-Washburn equation

for a straight 1-dimensional paper channel

Preprint · January 2021

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.34883.84008

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Muhammad Jalal Khan Shakirullah Khan

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology
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FLUID CEP 2018440, 2018349, 2018292, 2018432

Fluid Mechanics I; CEP

2018440, 2018349, 2018292, 2018432

ME321 10/1/21 Section B

 SUBJECT: Fluid Mechanics I
TITLE: Investigation of Surface Tension

GROUP Members: Shehzad Khan, M. Usman Khan, Jalal,

Shakir Ullah
REGISTRATION NO: 2018440, 2018349, 2018292, 2018432
SECTION: B

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology

I have adhered to University policy regarding academic honesty in

completing this assignment

Submitted to Dr Ali Turab Jafry on behalf of the faculty of Mechanical

Engineering in partial fulfillment of the degree requirements

5th Semester, 3rd year

DATE: 10/01/2021
FLUID CEP 2018440, 2018349, 2018292, 2018432

Members Contribution:

2018292:
• Performed Experiment
• Data Extraction
• References
• EndNote Library

2018440:
• Preface
• Acknowledgement
• Performed Experiment
• Data Analysis
• Calculations
• Excel Plots
• Report Organizing

2018349:
• Literature Review
• Complete Report Writing
• Calculations

2018432:
• Abstract
• Literature Review
• Conclusion

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Preface

We want to Thank our Beloved Teacher

Dr. Ali Turab Jaufry
For his precious time and Support.

We are also grateful to the Dean FME, GIK Institute

Dr. Khalid Rehman
For the perfect opportunity and guidance.

This work is dedicated to Our Parents

Who have given us priceless educational opportunities!

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Acknowledgement

First and foremost, we thank Allah Almighty for His mercy and
blessings which can undoubtedly not be worded but are certainly felt.
We consider ourselves fortunate enough to have his endless blessings on
us throughout our academic career and all our prayers will never be
adequate to thank for what we are blessed with.
We would like to pay special appreciation and gratitude to our
remarkable teacher Dr. Ali Turab Jaufry. He provided support,
encouragement, and guidance all through our undergraduate career. At
numerous stages of this project, we had ample opportunities to learn
phenomenal attributes from him such as creative thinking and
developing new ideas. His patience, hard work, optimism, punctuality,
and confident in our research ideas inspired us enormously and uplifted
us to accomplish this specific undertaking. The completion of this
dissertation would not be possible without his effort.
We would also like to thank all our colleagues for their helpful
suggestions and support. Our deep and sincere gratitude to our family
for their boundless love and support. Their knowledge and experiences
consistently kept us aiming for the best in our life. This journey would
not have been possible without their constant encouragement.
Our immense regards to Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute for
providing us the platform that enables us to get closer to our ambitions.
We are also very grateful to our Dean, Faculty of Mechanical
Engineering, for granting us the impeccable environment.

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Abstract:
This process of using water in a container and scale with attached
towel paper, then dipping just the tip of the towel paper is used to
determine the plot of rise in capillary tube (towel paper) with the square
root is time. From this plot we determine its slope which is very useful
parameter in Lucas-Washburn equation. This method is applicable for
any types of fluid at any temperature. This method of finding surface
tension of the fluid can also be used to determine the contact angle
between the penetrating liquid and the solid (tube wall) which is
otherwise hard to determine. From plotting the rise in the towel paper
due to capillary action versus square root of time rather than time
reduces the error in calculation because by this we can produce straight
line graph from which we can accurately determine the slope whereas
the length versus time graph produces a curve graph from which we
cannot find the slope accurately. So, this method estimates the surface
tension as well as the contact angle between the penetrating liquid and
the solid (tube wall) very closely to the actual value.

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Table of contents
Topic Page No.
Abstract 03
Problem Statement 05
Literature Review 05
Experimental Investigation 07
Apparatus 07
Procedure 08
Experimental Setup 09
Data Table 10
Data Plot 12
Lucas-Washburn equation 13

Calculations 13
Error 15
Conclusion 16
Discussion 17
References 18

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Problem Statement:
Investigate the surface tension of water using the Lucas-Washburn equation
for a straight 1-dimensional paper channel. You can cut this channel with the help
of scissors or blade. Perform as many experiments for accurately determining all
variables involved.

Literature review:
Since the 18th century porous medium is used for the purpose of separating
dyes; in the 20th century Lucas and Washburn worked to make an equation for the
capillary flow of the fluid which today is called the surface tension. Typically, the
contact angles have been determined from systems having a smooth surface by the
sessile drop method. Washburn introduced the basic theory for determining the
contact angle of a liquid and a solid from liquid intrusion data.

On 15th June 2002, two scientists Ahmed Hamraoui and Tommy

Nylander publish a journal in which they proposed the analytical approach for the
Lucas–Washburn Equation. They studied that porous media can be characterized
by studying the kinetics of liquid rise within the pore spaces. Although porous
media generally have a complex structure, they can be modeled as a single, vertical
capillary or as an assembly of such capillaries. The main difficulties lie in
separately estimating the effective mean radius of the capillaries and the contact
angle between the liquid and the pore. In this paper they circumvent these
obstacles by exploring another approach and suggest an analytical approach of the
classical Lucas–Washburn equation (LWE). Specifically, they consider that the

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contact angle between the liquid meniscus and the inner surface of the capillary
becomes a dynamic contact angle when the liquid front is in movement.

One of the active areas of research is the inhibition of fluid in the porous
media is done through the development of computational models. These models
provide a significant insight into imbibition at micrometer length scales, they are
not well-suited for modeling the meso- and macro scale volumetric flow rates
associated with paper-based microfluidic pumps and paper fluidic devices. Instead,
the analytical Lucas-Washburn model is often used to relate the position of the
visible wetted front, L, to the square root of time, t.

The Lucas-Washburn model suggests the idea that the porous media is a
combination of parallel capillary tubes that have the same radius, r, and the liquid
has the surface tension γ, contact angle θ, and dynamic viscosity μ. However, in
many of the porous materials used for analytical applications there is are ample
pore size distribution, and the previous literature present has proven that the porous
material behind the visible wetted front is not fully saturated.

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Experimental investigation:
To determine surface tension of a fluid (in this case water is used) have
arranged our experiment. To carry out the experiment we have used following
apparatus:

Apparatus:
➢ Tap Water
➢ Tissue Paper
➢ Blade
➢ Scissor
➢ Scale
➢ Water Container
➢ Scotch Tape
➢ Video Recorder

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Following Procedure is carried out to conduct this experiment

Procedure:
1. Take the tap water into the container.
2. Cut the tissue paper into small equal horizontal parts with the help of the
scissor and blade.
3. Attach the cut tissue to the starting tip of the scale with the help of scotch
tape at the top end of tissue piece.
4. Dip just the tip of the tissues piece in the tap water.
5. Start the video recorder and note the reading as the water goes up in the
tissue piece slowly due to capillary action which is due to surface tension of
the water.
6. Note the reading of rise of level of water in the sectioned tissue with time in
the table with the help of analysing the recorded video.
7. Repeat the experiment 4-5 times for more accurate result.

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Experimental Setup:

Figure: Water in container with scale above on which sectioned paper is

attached

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Extraction of parameters and analysis:

DATA TABLE:
By performing the above experiment, we have analyzed the data from the camera
recording. Following data consist of four repeated experiments which we have analyzed for 30
seconds(s) each and noted the rise in millimeters (mm). The data of our experiment is as follow:

Experiment Experiment Experiment Experiment Average Average Time

01 02 03 04 (mm) (m)

Time Length Length Length Length Length Length Sqrt(s)

(s) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm)
(m)
1 5 2 5 4 4 0.004 1

2 12 8 11 8 9.75 0.00975 1.414214

3 15 14 13 12 13.5 0.0135 1.732051

4 17 18 15 14 16 0.016 2

5 18 20 19 16 18.25 0.01825 2.236068

6 19 21 21 17 19.5 0.0195 2.44949

7 20 22 22 18 20.5 0.0205 2.645751

8 21 23 23 21 22 0.022 2.828427

9 22 24 24 22 23 0.023 3

10 24 24 26 23 24.25 0.02425 3.162278

11 24 25 27 24 25 0.025 3.316625

12 25 26 28 24 25.75 0.02575 3.464102

13 26 27 29 25 26.75 0.02675 3.605551

14 26 28 30 25 27.25 0.02725 3.741657

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15 27 28 31 26 28 0.028 3.872983

16 28 29 32 27 29 0.029 4

17 28 29 32 28 29.25 0.02925 4.123106

18 29 30 33 30 30.5 0.0305 4.242641

19 30 30 33 31 31 0.031 4.358899

20 30 31 34 31 31.5 0.0315 4.472136

21 31 31 34 32 32 0.032 4.582576

22 32 32 35 32 32.75 0.03275 4.690416

23 33 32 35 33 33.25 0.03325 4.795832

24 33 33 36 33 33.75 0.03375 4.898979

25 34 33 36 34 34.25 0.03425 5

26 34 34 36 34 34.5 0.0345 5.09902

27 35 34 37 35 35.25 0.03525 5.196152

28 35 35 37 35 35.5 0.0355 5.291503

29 36 35 37 36 36 0.036 5.385165

30 36 36 38 37 36.75 0.03675 5.477226

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Data Plot:
By using the above data, we have generated the following plot. On y-axis we
have shown the flow of the fluid in meters and on the x-axis the time in square root
of seconds is plotted. We have generated the following plot on the excel sheet.

Average value from four experiments vs time (m/sqrt(s))

0.04
y = 0.0065x + 0.0025
0.035

0.03

0.025
Length (m)

0.02

0.015

0.01

0.005

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time (sec)

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Lucas-Washburn equation:
The Lucas-Washburn equation is given as:

𝛾 𝑅cos⁡ 𝜃 1
𝐼=√ 𝑡2
𝜂 2

For finding the surface tension (𝛾) for a fluid, we solve Lucas-Washburn equation for surface
tension we get

2 × 𝜂 × 𝑘2
𝛾=
cos⁡ 𝜑 × 𝑅

Where

𝛾 = Surface Tension of Fluid (N/m)

𝜂 = Viscosity of Fluid (N.s/m2)

𝑘 = Value Obtained from the slope of the Graph (m /√𝑠 )

𝜑 = Contact Angle between fluid and the capillary (In this case sectioned tissue paper) (radians)

𝑅 = Radius of the pours (m)

Calculations of Determining Surface Tension By

Lucas-Washburn:
The Lucas-Washburn equation for surface tension is given as:

2 × 𝜂 × 𝑘2
𝛾=
cos⁡ 𝜑 × 𝑅

Viscosity of tap water at room temperature 25oC is

𝜂 = 8.9 × 10-4 N.s/m2

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Radius of pores is 0.1 nm obtained from the information that the tissue paper is a random
packing of cellulose microfibers. These fibers are hundreds of µm in length and 50–100 µm in
radius.

𝑅 = 100⁡× 10-6 m

k is the value obtained from the graph generated above between length and square root of
time. The slope of the graph indicates the value of k. We select any two random points on the
slope of the graph to determine the value of k by interpolating between these two points.

So, the obtained value ok k is

𝑘 = 0.0065 m /√𝑠

𝜑 is the contact angle between fluid and the capillary is found to be very close to 90o as
we have placed the tissue paper vertically,

𝜑 = 89.44o

Putting all the values in Lucas-Washburn equation we get

2 × (8.4 × 10−4 ) × (0.0065)2

𝛾=
cos⁡(89.4) × (100 × 10−6 )

𝜸 = 𝟕𝟏. 𝟖𝟏𝐱𝟏𝟎^ − 𝟑⁡⁡𝑵/𝒎

This is the calculated value for surface tension by using Lucas-Washburn equation.

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ERROR IN CALCULATIONS:
The original value of surface tension for tap water at different temperature conditions is
provided as

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The standardly proposed surface tension value is 72 N/m as shown above with some
uncertainty.

Now we calculate percentage error

𝑨𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍⁡𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒖e−Theoretical⁡Value
Percentage error = 𝑨𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍⁡𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒖e
×100

72−71.81
Percentage error = × 100
72

Percentage error = 0.42%

Conclusion:
By above study we have showed that how surface tension can be determined
with Lucas-Washburn equation by using capillary action of the tissue paper. This
method is applicable for any types of fluid at any temperature. This method of
finding surface tension of the fluid can also be used to determine the contact angle
between the penetrating liquid and the solid (tube wall) which is otherwise hard to
determine.

There is some error in calculated values due to the reasons:

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Reason of Deviation:
➢ The limiting parameters may not be held constant i.e. temperature of the
environment, holding of scale above the surface.
➢ There is a great chance of error in determining the height of the column
with time i.e. Human error.
➢ Tap Water has impurities in it due which we cannot attain surface tension
value accurately.
➢ This may have not just touched the tip of the paper and one may have
varied the immersion depth with is also the main cause of error. The error
in the surface tension values measured with the described experiment
increases with the increasing of the capillary immersion depth.

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References:
[1] Andersson, J. (2018). Surface tension-driven flow in soft porous materials
— An investigation of the mechanism of capillary flow in soft hydrophilic
microchannels.

[2] Astuti, N., et al. (2018). "The Porosity Calculation of Various Types of
Paper Using Image Analysis." Jurnal Pendidikan Fisika Indonesia 14: 46-51.

[3] Benedetto, F. E., et al. (2015). "Critical Assessment of the Surface Tension
determined by the Maximum Pressure Bubble Method." Materials Research
18: 9-14.

[4] Hamraoui, A. and T. Nylander (2002). "Analytical Approach for the

Lucas–Washburn Equation." Journal of colloid and interface science 250(2):
415-421.

[5] Nylander, T. (2002). "Analytical Approach for the Lucas–Washburn

Equation." Journal of colloid and interface science 250: 415-421.

[6] Rotenberg, Y., et al. (1983). "Determination of surface tension and

contact angle from the shapes of axisymmetric fluid interfaces." J. Colloid
Interface Sci.; (United States): Medium: X; Size: Pages: 169-183.

[7] Sajdera, N. (2007). "Surface tension." Metal Finishing 105: 528–530.

[8] Zdziennicka, A., et al. (2017). "Some remarks on the solid surface tension
determination from contact angle measurements." Applied Surface Science
405: 88-101.

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