![viscosity of water at room temperature viscosity of water at room temperature](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/5xRQKaZ1uws/0.jpg)
Assorted liquids from around your kitchen you have permission to use, such as water, syrup, honey, molasses, olive oil, vegetable oil, etcetera.At least two equal-size tall, transparent drinking glasses (the taller the better).Will viscosity affect how fast the marbles fall? Try this project to find out! You won't need to do any calculations in this activity-but you will get to "race" marbles by dropping them in different liquids.
![viscosity of water at room temperature viscosity of water at room temperature](https://d3i71xaburhd42.cloudfront.net/ade0b93cb11e23f2d2d5481ffed3c859f8830f07/15-Table22-1.png)
By measuring how long it takes the marble to fall and how far it travels, you can figure out the liquid’s viscosity. One method is called a "falling sphere viscometer," in which you drop a sphere (such as a marble) through a tube filled with liquid. There are several different ways scientists can measure the viscosity of a liquid. Imagine how much harder that would be to do with cold syrup! You will notice this if you think about squirting water out of a bottle or squirt gun. Different liquids have different viscosities, which means some liquids flow more easily than others. This internal friction is called viscosity. Liquids, however, have friction, too-not just against solids (for example, water against a drinking glass)-but also internal friction, the liquid against itself. This type of friction is a force that resists motion between two solid objects. It is what allows your shoes to grip the floor so you don't slip and it's what makes your bike come to a stop when you squeeze the brakes. In this project you will learn a little bit about viscosity by holding a marble race! Viscosity is a properly of liquids that can be very important in very different applications-from how the syrup flows out of your bottle to how blood flows through the human body to how lava flows out of a volcano. Have you ever tried to squeeze honey or syrup out of a bottle at breakfast on a chilly winter morning? Do you notice that it's harder to do that than on a hot summer day? As the liquid gets colder, its viscosity, or resistance to flow, increases.