ERIC Number: EJ1054993
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Feb
Pages: 2
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0031-921X
EISSN: N/A
Floating Together on the Top
Larosi, Mohamed Boutinguiza
Physics Teacher, v53 n2 p93-94 Feb 2015
When eating cereal for breakfast, it is common to observe how cereal pieces move to the walls of the bowl. The same thing occurs when having tea--the small leaves tend to move toward the cup walls. While the suspension of objects on liquids due to surface tension is usually discussed in introductory physics courses, this phenomenon is not usually explained in textbooks. Besides, most texts interpret the surface tension as a membrane of liquid that pushes the object up, suspending it completely by the surface tension force. But the surface tension force depends on the liquid-object affinity, and there are also other forces involved in the phenomenon. In this paper the phenomenon is discussed and explained.
Descriptors: Science Instruction, Physics, Motion, Scientific Concepts, Textbooks, Scientific Principles
American Association of Physics Teachers. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740. Tel: 301-209-3300; Fax: 301-209-0845; e-mail: pubs@aapt.org; Web site: http://scitation.aip.org/tpt
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A