Skip to main content
Ch.11 - Liquids & Phase Changes

Chapter 11, Problem 21

Water flows quickly through the narrow neck of a bottle, but maple syrup flows sluggishly. Is this different behavior due to a difference in viscosity or in surface tension for the liquids?

Verified Solution
Video duration:
1m
This video solution was recommended by our tutors as helpful for the problem above.
351
views
Was this helpful?

Video transcript

Hello everyone today. We have the following problem. When honey flows through a tube having an internal diameter of one centimeter, it takes more time than it takes for water to flow through the same tube is the difference in flow time due to the difference in the surface tensions of the two liquids, if not which property of a liquid explains this difference. So our answer is going to be first No. Which gets rid of anti choice A and it's also going to be this difference is due to viscosity or answer choice B. And here's why viscosity is simply just how thick a liquid is. So viscosity is just the study of how thick how liquid is. And so as it states in the question, liquids with high viscosity tend to have low velocity and the same can be true vice versa. A low viscosity tends to have a higher velocity. And so this directly explains why it takes more time for honey to pass through the same tube as water, because honey is thicker than water. And without, we've answered the question overall, I hope this helped. And until next time.