Experiment No: Aim of the experiment: To determine the surface tension of water by capillary rise method.

Theory: Surface tension is given by-

Where, r= radius of the tube. h= height of the liquid rise in the tube. . g = acceleration due to gravity. Procedure: 1. Place a flat bottom dish with vertical sides, on a table whose height can be adjusted. Fill it with water so that the water stands a little above the edge of the dish. 2. Hold a glass plate in a clamp and attached three capillary tubes on it. Adjust them so that they are perfectly vertical. Dip the tubes in water so that water riseses in them. 3. View the water meniscus in one tube through a microscope and adjust the height of the microscope so that its horizontal crosswire just touch the lower meniscus of the liquid level and then note the microscope scale reading. 4. Adjust the position of the needle such that it just touches the water surface in the dish. Now focus the crosswire of the microscope at the base of the needle and note the microscope scale reading. The difference of the readings in 3 and 4 gives the height of the liquid rise in the tube. 5. Measure the inner diameter of the tube both horizontally and vertically and take the mean of this two reading. And hence calculate the mean radius of the tube. 6. Repeat the experiment with two other capillary tubes of different bores.

Observations: Least count of the microscope = ..cm. Temperature of water = 0c Density of water at this temperature = .g/cm3

Microscope reading at the tip of the needle

Radius of the tube in cm.

No of observations

Microscope reading at A

horizontal

A B C

1 2 3 4 5 6

Calculations:

Result: The surface tension of water at t0c is = .. Precautions: 1. The capillary tubes should be placed vertically. 2. The water level in the in the dish should be a little above the edge of the dish so that when we note the position of the tip the edge does not come in the way. 3. The surface of the water should be free from grease. 4. The crosswire should be focused at the lower meniscus of the liquid column.

vertical

Tubes.

height Diameter of the tube along h Mean in cm In cm.

T=