Lab at Home of fluid draining with Tracker

TL;DR

This paper presents a method for conducting fluid draining experiments at home using accessible equipment and video analysis software, enabling physics lab activities remotely during pandemic restrictions.

Contribution

It introduces a practical approach for remote physics experiments on fluid draining using common household items and Tracker software, with analysis of viscosity effects.

Findings

Viscosity causes a delay in draining time.

The ratio of container radius to hole radius predicts draining time.

Home-based experiments are feasible with low-cost equipment.

Abstract

The pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has threaten the face-to-face teaching activity in both schools and universities. The transformation from face-to-face classes to online activities yielded inefficient outcomes from the activities. Particularly, a key issue was organizing laboratory activities without accessing the labs. In this paper, we propose how to overcome this problem by enabling the students to perform physics experiments of fluid draining at home. In other words, the use of equipment commonly available at home or that can be purchased at a low price is practically plausible. In the present work, we do an experimental investigation of liquid draining through a hole of a container. From an analyzing step, we introduce a freely-accessible video analysis software, Tracker, to obtain accurate results. Interestingly, we observe the effects of viscosity causing a delay of draining time of liquids. Our study shows that a ratio of open-space radius of the container to the hole radius, $\sqrt{\lambda}$, can be used to determine a draining time.