Investigating What Factors Affect the Efficiency of Siphoning

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Investigating What Factors Affect the Efficiency of Siphoning

I have chosen to investigate siphoning because as a kid I was always

intrigued and puzzled by this "phenomena" when I used to clean my fish

tank. The difficulty factor also played a major role. I wanted to do

something which could be carried out comfortably in a relatively short

time. An investigation, which is not so demanding on the practical

side to allow more time for processing of the data captured.

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On a more scientific note I am interested in mechanics of fluids. This

interest was enforced last year when I had the opportunity to attend a

lecture on fluid mechanics at P&G. At the conference I greatly

expanded my knowledge regarding the physical aspect of fluids and

their properties. In last year's AS course we have met a topic in this

field. I will be applying ideas and knowledge gathered from last year

for this investigation. I will also be looking at more complex

concepts and ideas such as Reynolds's number, the effect of

temperature on viscosity and liquid density, which we have not met in

last year's course.

The areas I will be looking into are as follows:

1) The effect of the Pipe Diameter on flow rate.

- the effect of Pipe Diameter on liquid flow (turbulent/laminar)

2) The effect of Temperature of liquid on flow rate.

- the effect of Temperature on liquid flow (turbulent/laminar)

3) The effect of the Vertical height between source and destination of

the fluid on flow rate.

- the effect of Vertical height on liquid flow (turbulent/laminar)

4) The effect of the Liquid's Viscosity/Density on flow rate.

- the effect of Viscosity on liquid flow (turbulent/laminar)

I have consulted my teachers for guidance and I have also looked very

carefully into the "the Suggestions papers" which contain many

possible investigations which have been done in the past. I opted to

choose neither of them but many aspects I will be looking into in my

investigation are similar to those in the papers.

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