Experimental Method to Determine Some Physical Properties in Physics Classes

Abstract

particle density, gravimetric and volumetric water contents and porosity are important basic concepts to characterize porous systems such as soils. this paper presents a proposal of an experimental method to measure these physical properties, applicable in experimental physics classes, in porous media samples consisting of spheres with the same diameter (monodisperse medium) and with different diameters (polydisperse medium). soil samples are not used given the difficulty of working with this porous medium in laboratories dedicated to teaching basic experimental physics. the paper describes the method to be followed and results of two case studies, one in monodisperse medium and the other in polydisperse medium. the particle density results were very close to theoretical values for lead spheres, whose relative deviation (rD) was -2.9 % and +0.1 % rD for the iron spheres. the rD of porosity was also low: -3.6 % for lead spheres and -1.2 % for iron spheres, in the comparison of procedures -using particle and porous medium densities and saturated volumetric water content -and monodisperse and polydisperse media.

Cleaner corrosion inhibitors using Peumus boldus Molina formulations in oil well acidizing fluids: gravimetric, electrochemical and DFT studies

“…The relative density of the extracts was determined with a 25 mL pycnometer (Pires et al, 2015). A Shimadzu AUY 220 scale was used to measure mass (±0.10 mg).…”

A Model for the Soil Freezing Characteristic Curve That Represents the Dominant Role of Salt Exclusion

“…The sand has a measured particle density of 2.5 g•cm −3 , an estimated bulk density of 1.45 g•cm −3 , and a porosity of 0.42. The particle density was measured using the pycnometer method as described by Pires et al (2015), and the soil porosity was determined as the saturated volumetric moisture content of the soil. In both methods, adequate soil packing was achieved by carefully beating the sides of the soil container with a wooden meter rule until there was no change in the level of the sand in the container.…”