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Science Forum Index » Chemistry Forum » Making water flow uphill (sorta)
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| Bill |
 Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2003 11:00 am |
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When I was in high school about 1970, our chemistry teacher put on a
demonstration whereby she added some powder to a pitcher of water,
stirred it, poured it into another pitcher which she then held higher
and the "water" kept flowing. To break the flow she cut the "water"
with scissors. I seem to recall that the powder was also said to make
the water more "slick" (There was speculation among certain class
members as to the effect on the speed of the fish in the aquarium.) I
think that this powder may have been available through a catalog for
novelties advertised on the back of comic books.
Could someone please, please help me discover the name of this product
or its ingredients?
Regards,
Bill Liles |
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| PSmith9626 |
| Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2003 3:37 am |
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Dear bill,
It was available through Edmund Scientific in Barrington NJ.
best
penny
Quote: Could someone please, please help me discover the name of this product
or its ingredients? |
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| Mark Thorson |
| Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2003 11:13 am |
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Bill wrote:
Quote: Could someone please, please help me discover the name of this product
or its ingredients?
polyethylene oxide |
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| Bill |
| Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2003 10:41 pm |
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| John Spevacek |
| Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2003 8:59 am |
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wliles@mail.com (Bill) wrote in message news:<ace4b664.0312240800.40255b86@posting.google.com>...
Quote: When I was in high school about 1970, our chemistry teacher put on a
demonstration whereby she added some powder to a pitcher of water,
stirred it, poured it into another pitcher which she then held higher
and the "water" kept flowing. To break the flow she cut the "water"
with scissors. I seem to recall that the powder was also said to make
the water more "slick" (There was speculation among certain class
members as to the effect on the speed of the fish in the aquarium.) I
think that this powder may have been available through a catalog for
novelties advertised on the back of comic books.
Could someone please, please help me discover the name of this product
or its ingredients?
Polyethylene oxide is commonly know for increasing the flow rate of
water if it is added at very small amounts, but I would use
polyacrylamide if I really wanted to thicken it up and make it
cuttable with a high relaxation time.
Prof. Cussler at the University of Minnesota recently ran an
experiment in one of the school's swimming pools. He succeeded in
talking the staff into letting him dump guar into the pool and then
letting the swim team have at it to see if the increased viscosity
changed their times at all.
http://www1.umn.edu/urelate/m/fall2003/honeydo.html
Lastly, there was an article in Science or Nature about 10 years ago
where they made water (not water with polygoop in it) go uphill. They
put a drop on a special surface that had a gradient in surface tension
so that the water moved up a slope of about 30 degrees if I recall
correctly.
John |
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