TOPIC

CHANGE IN THE WINDS: STUDYING BERNOULLI’S PRINCIPLE.

INTRODUCTION

Bernoulli's principle states that an increase in the speed of a fluid (air) occurs
simultaneously with a decrease in pressure or a decrease in the fluid's potential
energy. The principle is named after Daniel Bernoulli who published it in his
book Hydrodynamica in 1738.

Alternatively Bernoulli principle describes the relationship between velocity and

the pressure exerted by a moving fluid (liquid or air). It states that as the velocity
of a fluid increases, the pressure exerted by that fluid decreases.

One real-world example of this principle is when air is forced to move at a high
speed from a tube, such as a hair dryer. In the region where the air is moving, the
Bernoulli principle indicates that the pressure is lower than in the surrounding
stationary air. If you have a region of low pressure near a region of high pressure,
air will move into the region of low pressure. The air moves because the force of
the low-pressure region is less than that of all other forces acting on the air.

Both airplanes and race cars take advantage of Bernoulli's principle, also called
the Bernoulli effect, to help control their movements. In the case of the airplane, it
gets part of its lift from the Bernoulli effect. In the case of the race car, the
Bernoulli effect helps to keep its wheels in contact with the racetrack at high
speeds.

Image illustrating Bernoulli’s effect in aircraft wing.

ABSTRACT

In this science project, you will be observe the forces acting on the air by watching
two light objects (soda cans) move toward the air flow. The speed of the airflow
will be changed and resultant change in distance between the two cans will be
measured. The relationship between both speed and distance with the Bernoulli
effect will be studied.

Figure 1: Image showing how an increase in air velocity between the cans
weakens the air pressure between them, causing them to be pushed together.

Study questions.

 Does a higher speed make them fly together sooner?

 Does a greater distance make them come together more slowly?
 Why would an object move when the pressure on one side is lowered?

Materials and Equipment

 Soda cans, emptied and rinsed out (2)

 String
  Scissors
 Clear tape, or masking tape
 Ruler
 A helper (optional)
 Hair dryer or small, strong fan with more than one speed setting
 Ruler
 Stopwatch
 Lab notebook
 Graph paper

Experimental Procedure

In this experiment, two empty soda cans will be hanged in midair and air will be
blown between them using hair dryer using more than one speed setting between
them and see what happens when air pressure changes with change in speed.

Steps

1. Find a place to hang the cans in a room, such as from a loft or from a non-
sloping ceiling. It should also be near an electrical socket. Cut several 2 m of
string for each can, so when they are hung, they are at about chest level.
2. Bend each can's tab so that it is vertical (see Figure 2), and then tie a piece of
string to each one.
Figure 2: The tabs of these cans have been bent vertically so that they will hang
properly.

3. Hang the two cans with tape so that they are level with each other. There
should be 12 cm between the taped ends of the string (see Figure 3, below)
and they should be at your chest level as they hang. Make sure that one can
easily access the taped parts of the strings because they will be moved
farther apart as Bernoulli's principle will be tested, one will need to measure
and record the changing distances. Note: You might need a helper who can
stand on a chair to tape the string to the ceiling or high location and continue
to do so throughout the experiment.

In the following steps, one will be using air pressure to move the objects.
The region between the two cans will be the low-pressure region, and
everywhere else around each can will be a high-pressure region. The
difference in pressure between the cans will cause the cans to move because
the higher pressure outside the cans is a stronger force than the low pressure
between the cans. Ultimately, this pushes them together. By blowing the air,
you're not pulling the objects closer; you're weakening the air pressure that
keeps them separated.

4. Have your stopwatch ready and your hair dryer plugged in. You will start
the stopwatch when you turn on the hair dryer and stop it when the cans
collide. You might want to have someone help you—have the helper use the
stopwatch while you use the hair dryer. Make sure the hair dryer is set to its
lowest speed setting.
 5. Aim the hair dryer directly between the two cans and turn it on (see Figure
4, below). You might need to practice positioning the hair dryer to get the
cans to collide a few times before you have your partner use the stopwatch.
You'll probably find that it's easy to blow one can around, but you need to
focus on blowing air between them. This can be tricky, especially at the
lowest hair dryer speed. If the speed doesn't seem to work no matter how
many times you practice, just use the next highest speed setting. Once you
find the right position, measure and record the distance from the tip of the
hair dryer to the cans in your lab notebook.

Figure 4. This is the proper way to aim the hair dryer—exactly between the two
cans.

6. After you finish practicing, it's time to begin collecting data. Make a data
table in your lab notebook, with a column labeled Separation Distance
(beginning with 12 cm) and a corresponding column labeled Time. Get the
hair dryer in the position you practiced with, aim the hair dryer properly, and
turn it on at the same time the stopwatch is started. Stop the hair dryer when
the cans first hit each other. Record the time in your data table.
7. Repeat step 6 two more times, using the same distance between the objects
and the hair dryer each time. Later, you'll find an average of the data to put
 in a graph. Finding averages of multiple trials is more accurate than using
only one trial.
8. Now change the distance between the two soda cans and record the distance
in your lab notebook. This is done by taking one string off of wherever it is
hung and increasing the distance by 1 cm, and reattaching it with the same
piece or a new piece of tape. There should now be 13 cm between the
strings.
9. Keep the hair dryer on the same speed and repeat step 6 two more times,
recording the information in the data table.
10.Continue increasing the distance by 1 cm and test each new distance three
times. Do this until the distance is so great that the cans no longer collide
when air is blown between them.
11.Calculate an average time value for each distance. Then make a graph with
all of the averages, where the x-axis is Separation Distance (in cm), and the
y-axis is Time (in sec). This graph represents data for the hair dryer speed
setting you used.
12.Now change the speed of the hair dryer. Make a new data table in lab
notebook to record the information for this new speed setting.
13.The hair dryer should have more than one speed setting, such as low and
high. Change the speed to the next highest one and perform steps 3-11.
Make sure you use all the same distances that you used in the previous
experiment. Start with a soda can separation distance of 12 cm and increase
by 1 cm until the cans no longer collide. Perform three trials for each
distance. If there are more than two settings on your dryer (like low,
medium, and high), then make sure to test all of them and make a graph for
each one.

Questions

 What do the differences in the graphs mean?

 What do they tell you about air pressure and Bernoulli's principle?

Variations

 Your hair dryer might have temperature settings, in addition to speed

settings. Try making more graphs, where each one represents a change in
temperature instead of in speed. Are there any differences? What do they tell
you? Do you think this has anything to do with Bernoulli's principle?
 Try changing the objects for each graph instead of changing the air speed.
For example, one graph could be based on two empty soda cans, another
 could be based on empty water bottles, etc. How do the graphs of different
objects differ? How are they similar? What does this tell you?
 Try using only one object. Set it on a smooth table and blow air close to it.
Try to control where it goes, using Bernoulli's principle (don't just blow it
away). This works best with a round object, such as a ping pong ball. What
happens when it slides into the air flow? How can you explain its new
motion, using air pressure?
 Try thinking about what happened to the two objects in terms of energy, not
pressure. Use the Law of Conservation of Energy. How does it explain why
the objects moved? How did the energy of the system change when you
added the hair dryer? This might take a little extra research.