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Task: Create a lab that will investigate some aspect of a metal can and a liquid.
So I'm in 2nd year physics, I've learned about projectiles, little bit of thermal physics, some electric and magnetics, standard forces, and thats about it...
I can think of labs dealing with metal cans and liquids, however I can't think of one that "investigates some aspect' of it. One idea I have is using liquid/states of liquid to determine the heat capacity of a metal clan. (however, directions are vague, I'm not sure if i need to investigate both the metal can and the liquid.)
I'm really pulling a blank @ what I could do. Since this is to be done @ home, my supplies are limited to household items.
Stove
Laundry detergent
oils
fire
wood
measuring cups
cloth
stopwatch
need: scale
Hmm... I thought of one?
1. How well do metal cans contain fire and what types of oil produce the heaviest fire??
This will be analysing the heat capacity of a metal can ( heat transfer) and also of the liquid (different types of oil)
However, I'm not so sure where I'm going with this lab if heat capcities doesn't work.
Other ideas... hmm.
Question: Oxidation and buoyancy. Is this chemistry or physics? If Physics, I could measure densities of different liquids?
I'm not sure how I would measure the "capcity". I would probably need to look up certain heat capcities and also acquire a scale of some sort.
Can u guys advice some ideas?
 
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Find the moment of inertia of an empty can compared to a full one?
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oxidation is chemistry.
buoyancy can be physics i think.
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I'm a chem major, but here's a suggestion.
Calculate the relationship between the coefficients of thermal expansion for whatever metal the can is made of, as well as for a high-boiling liquid, and then use the literature value for the metal to determine the value for the liquid.
From a quick glance at a chart, it seems that the easiest high-boiling liquid to find that won't kill you is olive oil, which boils at 300C or 573K (Accidentally vaporizing things with phenyl rings will in fact kill you.)
To do this with home-made ingredients, you would need an oven, a glass bowl, a metal can, enough olive oil to fill the can, and a graduated cylinder.
What you want to do is fill the can with water to the brim, and find the volume of the can at room temperature using either a graduated cylinder or a scale.
Fill the can with olive oil to the brim, and place it in the bowl, and then in the oven. Set the oven to a temperature below 300C, then wait.
Once enough time has passed that you're sure that everything in the oven is at the same temperature, carefully remove the bowl and the can from the oven.
Because the coefficient of thermal expansion is larger for liquids than for solids, the volume of olive oil that drained over the side of the can and into the bowl can be used to derive a relationship between the oil and the can.
Then, look up the coefficient for tin or aluminum or whatever your can is, as well as the difference in temperature between the oven and room temperature, and you have your results.
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United States24701 Posts
I'm not sure if I understand the task either, but maybe you can do something with putting different amounts of water into the can, and spinning it in vertical circles.
On February 20 2008 14:38 fight_or_flight wrote:
Find the moment of inertia of an empty can compared to a full one?
How do you do that? ._.
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On February 20 2008 15:00 micronesia wrote:I'm not sure if I understand the task either, but maybe you can do something with putting different amounts of water into the can, and spinning it in vertical circles. Show nested quote +On February 20 2008 14:38 fight_or_flight wrote:
Find the moment of inertia of an empty can compared to a full one? How do you do that? ._.
Couldn't you just put it at the top of a ramp and time how long the can takes to roll to the bottom? then do some math and stuff...
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United States24701 Posts
On February 20 2008 15:03 fight_or_flight wrote:Show nested quote +On February 20 2008 15:00 micronesia wrote:I'm not sure if I understand the task either, but maybe you can do something with putting different amounts of water into the can, and spinning it in vertical circles. On February 20 2008 14:38 fight_or_flight wrote:
Find the moment of inertia of an empty can compared to a full one? How do you do that? ._. Couldn't you just put it at the top of a ramp and time how long the can takes to roll to the bottom? then do some math and stuff...
Ohhhh.... you mean about its axis. Ah okay. I suppose if you have a water-tight lid. Yeah a can with a bigger moment of inertia would accelerate less down an incline.
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You know, actually you could find the moment of inertia of a can frozen solid, and that of a can with liquid water in it, and I think you could calculate the viscosity of water from that. That would be a pretty awesome experiment.
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On February 20 2008 14:59 Plutonium wrote:
I'm a chem major, but here's a suggestion.
Calculate the relationship between the coefficients of thermal expansion for whatever metal the can is made of, as well as for a high-boiling liquid, and then use the literature value for the metal to determine the value for the liquid.
From a quick glance at a chart, it seems that the easiest high-boiling liquid to find that won't kill you is olive oil, which boils at 300C or 573K (Accidentally vaporizing things with phenyl rings will in fact kill you.)
To do this with home-made ingredients, you would need an oven, a glass bowl, a metal can, enough olive oil to fill the can, and a graduated cylinder.
What you want to do is fill the can with water to the brim, and find the volume of the can at room temperature using either a graduated cylinder or a scale.
Fill the can with olive oil to the brim, and place it in the bowl, and then in the oven. Set the oven to a temperature below 300C, then wait.
Once enough time has passed that you're sure that everything in the oven is at the same temperature, carefully remove the bowl and the can from the oven.
Because the coefficient of thermal expansion is larger for liquids than for solids, the volume of olive oil that drained over the side of the can and into the bowl can be used to derive a relationship between the oil and the can.
Then, look up the coefficient for tin or aluminum or whatever your can is, as well as the difference in temperature between the oven and room temperature, and you have your results.
Lol this seems very interesting. I'm a bit scared to heat oil in a oven though, even if it is olive oil. Perhaps I can do this over a fireplace?
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Calgary25981 Posts
On February 20 2008 14:38 fight_or_flight wrote:
Find the moment of inertia of an empty can compared to a full one?
That's a good one.
You could also find the heat transfer rate of the can and liquids by putting the can on the stove and a thermometer in the different liquids. See how this changes if you insulate the can and then determine how much of the heat transfer was conduction, convection, and I guess even radiation.
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On February 20 2008 23:03 kdog3683 wrote:Show nested quote +On February 20 2008 14:59 Plutonium wrote:
I'm a chem major, but here's a suggestion.
Calculate the relationship between the coefficients of thermal expansion for whatever metal the can is made of, as well as for a high-boiling liquid, and then use the literature value for the metal to determine the value for the liquid.
From a quick glance at a chart, it seems that the easiest high-boiling liquid to find that won't kill you is olive oil, which boils at 300C or 573K (Accidentally vaporizing things with phenyl rings will in fact kill you.)
To do this with home-made ingredients, you would need an oven, a glass bowl, a metal can, enough olive oil to fill the can, and a graduated cylinder.
What you want to do is fill the can with water to the brim, and find the volume of the can at room temperature using either a graduated cylinder or a scale.
Fill the can with olive oil to the brim, and place it in the bowl, and then in the oven. Set the oven to a temperature below 300C, then wait.
Once enough time has passed that you're sure that everything in the oven is at the same temperature, carefully remove the bowl and the can from the oven.
Because the coefficient of thermal expansion is larger for liquids than for solids, the volume of olive oil that drained over the side of the can and into the bowl can be used to derive a relationship between the oil and the can.
Then, look up the coefficient for tin or aluminum or whatever your can is, as well as the difference in temperature between the oven and room temperature, and you have your results.
Lol this seems very interesting. I'm a bit scared to heat oil in a oven though, even if it is olive oil. Perhaps I can do this over a fireplace?
Exposing oil to open flames is pretty dumb. You need a constant and measurable temperature for the experiment to work - an oven.
Also, I just rechecked oils and fats. They start to break down at a lower temperature than their boiling point, and for olive-oil, it's smoke point is about 375 F (191 C), so all you need to do is set the oven to about 300F.
So yeah, as long as you keep the temperature below 375 F, the experiment will work fine, and nothing will burn or smoke.
Other liquids might work better, I'm just using olive oil because it's the most documented, easily found high-boiling liquid that I can look up on the internet.
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EPT
