Problem 2B.

11 of Transport Phenomena by Bird, Stewart, and Lightfoot describes a

kind of viscometer commonly used in polymer production and other similar
industries. The set-up consists of a flat slab/plate and an inverted cone where the
apex of this cone is in contact with the plate. We could think of this instrument
imaginatively and compare it to a top. The inverted cone is this top while the plate
is the surface or ground on which the toy spins around when played. We can then
imagine that the spinning of this top is affected by the atmosphere (a viscous fluid
for the said viscometer) and that a certain minimum spinning motion is necessary
to allow the top to spin around until it stops due to forces acting against the motion.
This instrument determines the viscosity of a fluid by rotating the said inverted cone
at a known angular velocity, radius, and angle between the plate and cone. The
torque required to rotate the viscometer is then measured and the viscosity can be
calculated using the provided equation [2B.11-3].
This problem has 4 items that we need to contend with in order to fully understand
the system. The first one (a) asks that equation [2B.11-1] be verified which is the
approximate velocity distribution (in spherical coordinates). The term approximate is used here
because the velocity distribution is treated to be like that of flow between parallel plates which allows
simplification. Complicating the model might not provide any significant advantages over a model with
reasonable simplifications. Item (b) also asks that an equation be verified, [2B.11-2] in this case, as a
reasonable shear stress equation. Item (c) however, is the one in which we are most interested in because
we need to model the system with torque as a function of viscosity [2B.11-3] which is the standard
formula in use. Lastly, (d) is simply a straightforward application of the standard formula for finding the
viscosity of the cone-plate viscometer.