Experiment 2a – Finding the viscosity of honey

Type of honey used: SUPERBEE PURE AUSTRALIAN HONEY

Aim of experiment: To find the viscosity of honey at 20ºC using Zahn Cup.

Hypothesis: Honey is a very thick liquid, thus its viscosity should be high.

Materials needed:

- 1 Zahn cup set-up (From experiment 1)

- 1 measuring cup (44ml)

- 1 stopwatch (times up to milliseconds)

- 1 bottle of honey

- 1 calculator

Experiment Procedure:

1. Measure 44ml of honey using the measuring cup.

2. Allow the honey to reach the temperature of the air-conditioned room (20ºC).

3. Use the thermometer to check the temperature of the honey.

4. Pour the honey into the Zahn Cup and start the stopwatch at the same time.

5. Stop the stopwatch when the continuous flow of honey is broken.

6. Take down the timing up to milliseconds.

7. Repeat steps 1-6 4 times more for more accurate results.

8. Using the formula [1.1(time taken for water to flow from orifice – 29)], calculate the viscosity of honey based on the 5 timings.

9. Calculate the average viscosity of the 5 values.

Independent Variable: -NA-

Constant Variables:

1. Amount of honey poured into the Zahn Cup.

2. Size of orifice of Zahn Cup.

3. Temperature of honey.

Dependent Variable: Time taken for the continuous flow of honey through the orifice to stop.

Results:

Liquid	Time	Viscosity
Honey (20ºC)	65.76	40.436
	65.72	40.392
	65.31	39.941
	65.23	39.853
	65.89	40.579
	Average Viscosity	40.2402

Data Analysis:

From this experiment, I measured an average viscosity of honey: 40.2402 cSt.

Conclusion:

I conclude that the viscosity of honey is 40.2402 cSt. This conclusion is valid only with the assumption that human error in starting and stopping the stopwatch is minimal.