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Pinshu Zhao

Mrs. Stevens

Physical Science

12 December 2018

How Does the Width of a Surface Affects Splash Size?

Does water always splash on your clothes when you are washing dishes? I was curious if

the size of a dish will affect how far the water will splash. I want to find out which kind of

silverware would most likely splash a lot of water on your clothes! The result will be found out

by testing five different silverwares under a water faucet and measure the length of the splash

they made. ​I thought that ​if I put a soup spoon, teaspoon, spatula, butter knife and ice scooper

under a water faucet with maximize tap open, then the silverware that has the widest length and

the biggest surface area, which is the spatula, is going to splash the widest water.

What Causes Fluids to Flow?

The reason that fluids can flow is because they have enough energy to separate the

molecules so that the molecules can slide by each other. Because the molecules can slide by each

other, they are free from each other. After all the molecules are free from each other, less

attraction occur and more flow occur (Easter). Motion of a gas or a liquid is called fluid flow.

Fluid flow affected by unequal forces, as long as unstable forces are apply to the fluids, fluid

flow can keep occurring. For example, when pouring water out of a container, water’s velocity

on the lip and on the bottom is different. The lip has high velocity but the bottom does not. This

is because of the unbalance power-gravity, which is the unbalance weight of the water molecules

on each part of the surface of the tilted water (Fluid).

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​Why Does Water Splash?

Water splash because it is a kind of liquid. It splash also because its molecules does not

hold as strong as other state like a solid (Easter). ​Microscopically is a small layer of air that

pushes the water off of the object making a splash​. ​Microscopically makes water splash so that

the water cannot spread out smoothly. Water are more likely to splash when it drop in a high air

pressure environment. Since the air can easily escape from the squashed layer when the air

pressure is low, that makes water have less resistance and prevent a splash. Unlike situations that

happened when air pressure is low, air cannot easily escape from the squashed layer when the air

pressure is high, that makes water have more resistance and made a splash (Ingram).

​What Are Fluid Mechanics and Hydrodynamics?

Fluid mechanics are water molecules’ motions of flowing turbulence. Hydrodynamics is

basically the same thing which also study fluids’ motion and molecules’ movement. Compare

with fluid mechanics, hydrodynamics is more useful in real life and in science (Easter). Fluid

mechanics is a branch of science that study fluid, (liquid like water and gases like air) and their

movements when a force apply to them (Faber). On the other hand, Hydrodynamics is the branch

of physics that study fluids’ in motion or movement. Hydrodynamics also study how does the

force and motion that a fluid make effect on a solid object in the fluid (Hydrodynamics).

What Factors Affect the Shape of Water Splash?

There are many factors that could affect the shape of water splash. The flow of water can

be a factor that affect the shape of a splash. When you drop a object into the water, the shape of

the object can decide the shape of the splash, and different objects make different shape of

splash. The other uncontrollable factors like wind can also be a factor that affect the shape of a
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splash (Easter). The size of the splash can depend on the speed of the object as well. Objects’

shape is also a really important factor that affect water splash. The more rounded the object is,

the bigger splash it will make when hit the water surface. Weight can also be a way to affect

water splash, because the depth of air cavities depends on the weight of a object. The heavier an

object is, the deeper the air cavities is and the bigger the splash will be (Orcutt).

What Is Surface Area and How Is It Measured?

Surface area in science study is how strong the molecules attract each other on a surface.

Different object can have different surface area. Solid have molecules that hold stronger than

water molecule does. The surface area of an object can be test by a specific formula in a science

experiment (Easter). The definition of surface is the outer level or the upper part of a object or a

body. The measure of how much does the surface cover on a object or a body is surface area

(Surface).

How Do You Measure the Size of a Splash?

In order to measure the size of a splash, you would need to capture water in someway.

For some project, scientist would use ruler to test the dimensions of the splash, because the way

they can capturing the water in this type of experiment is to record the length and width of the

splash. For other science experiment or project, you can measure water by testing the certain

amount of water there is in a specific situation. For example: How much water in a bottle, how

much water did something dropped, how much water does something produce in a certain

amount of time (Easter). Water splash can be measured in two or three dimensional depending

on its shape. Measure the surface of the splash by measure the length and width and multiply

them together. If the splash has a height dimension, measure it and multiply it to the length and
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width of the splash in order to get the size of the splash (Avenir).

I thought that if I put a soup spoon, teaspoon, spatula, butter knife and ice scooper under

a water faucet with maximize tap open.Then the silverware that has the widest length and the

biggest surface area, which is the spatula, is going to splash the widest water. And I found out

that the silverware that has the smallest surface area, which is the butter knife, actually made the

biggest splash.​ From my experiment, I can conclude that the surface length of a object affect size

of splash, which the object that has shorter surface length would splash bigger water. At the same

time, I realize that besides its surface length, the object’s size also affect its splash, the bigger the

object is, the larger its splash will be. These two factors that can affect the size of a splash seems

in conflict, however, the difference between them is that the first factor ( surface length), will

affect a splash when water is hitting on an object on its surface. On the other hand, the second

factor ( size of a object), will decide the size of a splash when a object is hitting on water.

According to my experiment, the five silverware that I tested made a splash that had the average

length of 12cm in the First Trail, and 12.8cm in the Second Trial.
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Works Cited

Avenir, Raul. “How to Calculate Dimension.” Hunker.com, Hunker, 6 July 2010,

www.hunker.com/12344894/how-to-calculate-dimension.

Easter , Donald. “Science Fair Interview. .” 7 Nov. 2018.

Faber, Thomas E. “Fluid Mechanics.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,

25 Oct. 2016, ​www.britannica.com/science/fluid-mechanics/Hydrodynamics​.

“Fluid Flow.” Chemistry, Byjus Classes, 2018, byjus.com/physics/fluid-flow/.

“Hydrodynamics.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, 2018,

www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hydrodynamics.

Ingram , Kim. “News & Events.” Nick Vaughan-Williams, 17 Mar. 2017,

warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/why_water_splashes/.

Orcutt, Mike. “How to Make the Biggest Splash: A Physics Lesson.” Popular Mechanics,

Popular Mechanics, 15 Feb. 2018,

www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/sports/a5967/physics-of-cannonball-splash/​.

“Surface Area.” Merriam-Webster , Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, 2018,

www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/surface%20area.