Write a paper on Surface Tension Lab Report.
Surfactants lower the surface tension of water. To better understand this concept, you will complete the following activity to demonstrate and observe surface tension before you experiment with the effects of surfactant. All you will need for this activity is a penny, water, and an eyedropper or pipette.
1. Wash and rinse a penny in tap water, and then dry it completely with a paper towel.
2. Place the penny on a flat surface.
3. Use the eyedropper or pipette to drop individual drops of water onto the surface of the penny.
4. Count and record the number of drops of water that will fit on the surface of the penny before the water runs off. You will need to report this number in your lab report.
The surface tension created by the water molecules being attracted to each other is the property that surfactants work to counteract
Lab Report Instructions
Now that you have completed the experiment, move on to the report. Below is an outline for the sections of the lab report to clarify what it should contain and issues you will want to address for the report. Each section – except the cover page – should be at least 1 well-formed paragraph and should have a section heading.
1. Abstract – Will not be done. You will follow the conclusion instructions instead.
2. Introduction – You will want to include information about why this experiment was done. This section should also include background information on the principal components of the experiment. For example, what is the function of surfactant in the respiratory system? The introduction must also contain a hypothesis about what you expect your results to be for this experiment and why.
3. Materials and Methods – Briefly state the materials you used and how you did the experiment.
4. Results – Briefly present your data (results). This is not the place to offer an explanation for your results. This will be addressed in the discussion. Be sure to include the results for both the surface tension and surfactant experiments. Include your qualitative observations of what happened in each experiment as well as the number of water drops that fit on the penny. Your results can be presented in your choice of or a combination of text, data tables, and images.
5. Discussion –In this section you will want to 1. explain/discuss your observations and results. For example, state whether more or fewer drops than you expected fit on the penny, and explain the reason for this. 2. You will also want to address how this experiment relates to the ultimate question: What is the importance of surfactant? 3. Address whether your data supports the hypothesis that you presented in the introduction. 4. Lastly, compare this to the respiratory system – what would happen to the interaction of water and gasses if surfactant was not present?
6. Conclusion – Keep this to a single paragraph that restates the basis for the experiment and what you found. This is basically a summary of your entire report. Look at the instructions for the conclusion as a guide. As a part of your conclusion, you need to explain how changing the experiment might impact the results.
7. Literature Cited – You all know my policy on plagiarism. Don’t do it or there will be consequences. This applies not only to plagiarism of another student’s work but also of a reference material. You must appropriately cite, in APA format, all material used. Be sure to use your own words in your report. This will ensure that you understand the material to the best degree possible. Click here to see examples of how to create proper in-text and reference list citations in APA format. The “Common Mistakes on the Surfactant Lab Report” link under the Lab Report Instructions heading in Unit C of this class will be of help in finding scholarly sources for your report. Sources should always be listed alphabetically by author’s last name. Acceptable scholarly sources include: hardcopy books, eBooks (including your eText), scientific articles, scientific magazines (National Geographic, Scientific American, Popular Science, Discover Magazine, etc.).
1. Use the library’s online database to help you search for proper material. The Academic Search Complete is a large database full of research articles. There is also an eBook database for electronic textbooks
2. Unacceptable sources – Wikipedia, Ask.com, other non-science websites, really websites in general. I will deduct points for not using proper sources.
3. You must use in-text citations. It is not enough to list your literature cited at the end of the paper, you must also make notations in the body of your paper to show where each of your facts came from. Failure to properly cite within the body is a form of plagiarism.
