Water has a surface tension. When dropping water on a penny, people usually underestimate how much water the surface of a penny can hold. The surface tension of water is strong on a smaller surface, and when dropping water on the surface of a penny, towards 20 drops the water on the penny will look like it is bulging out a lot.
It really depends, depending on which side of the penny you are using, it ranges from 6 to even 34 drops using a simple eyedropper. Because eyedroppers do not produce the exact same size of drops every time, the result is not very accurate.
To be even more accurate, scientists use accurate distributing machines and a very new penny to determine how many drops of water it can hold without vibrations.
There could be certain amounts of grime and dirt on a penny, depending on how old it is, which can affect how much water can be put onto it. Different types of water can also change how much a penny can hold. Tap water has certain amounts of chemicals in it, and that could also affect the weight and surface tension of the water on the penny.
The height of which the water comes off from matters too, the more force of the water that comes down, the more likely the water on the penny is to splash and spill. The place the water lands on also has an effect on it.
To be even more accurate, light has a mass. If light shines directly at the water on a penny, it could push it a tiny bit. This change is impossible to see, and it has basically no effect on the penny or water at all whatsoever.
Remember, all tests may not be 100% accurate, and there may always be a chance that there is a better way to make a penny hold more droplets of water than the presumed "most advanced and accurate" way.
for example, if drops of water are placed on the top of a penny, the surface tension is going to hold the drops on top of the penny. when the penny can hold no more, it will all overflow. make sense?
Several factors can come into play here.The size of the dropsHow fast the liquid is being droppedWhat type of liquid is being usedThe temperature of the liquidThe termperature of the pennyIf the penny was clean or dirtyThe height the drop falls fromAny of these things can have an effect an expansion of the liquid, surface tension, and splash.
Approximately 30 to 35 drops of water can fit on a US penny before spilling over. The surface tension of the water allows it to form a dome-like shape on top of the penny, holding more drops than you might expect.
how many drops of water can a penny hold? topic: crazy penny........
milk
A penny can hold a significant amount of water due to its surface tension properties. The water molecules adhere to each other and the metal surface of the penny, preventing the water from spilling over the edges. This allows the water to collect and form a convex meniscus on top of the penny.
A penny can hold water due to two properties: surface tension and cohesion. Surface tension causes the water molecules to stick together and form a dome-like shape on the penny's surface, while cohesion allows the water molecules to stick to each other and the penny, preventing the water from spilling over.
Small drops of liquids tend to be spherical because of their surfacetension. Surface tension is the result of intermolecular attractingforces. When you put a small drop of a liquid on a solid surface, theinermolecular forces of the solid surface will tend to attract the liquidmolecules. Depending on the magnitude of the different forces, the solidsurface will present certain degree of 'wettability'. If you compare howa drop of water sits on a clean penny and on a penny that you rubbedwith your fingers, you'll notice that the drops contact angle differ.The drop on the clean penny will cover more contact area (more wettablesurface) than the drop on the 'oily' penny (less wettable surface). Oilreppels water because the intermolecular forces between the water andoil molecules are very weak compared to the intermolecular forces betweensimilar molecules.Now, water intermolecular forces are paricularly strong, and so the dropof water on the penny will resist more than the oil molecules to be spreadedon the surface of the penny. Oil drops tend to wet more the surface of thepenny and will tend to occupy more area. And so you'l get fewer oil dropson the penny's surface.
Soapy water will hold more on a penny compared to pure water. This is because the surface tension of soapy water is lower than that of pure water, allowing it to spread out more and cover the penny's surface.
The height of the water in a container affects the surface tension holding the water in place. If the height is too low, it may not be enough to overcome the adhesive forces of the water molecules, causing the water to spill when adding the penny. If the height is too high, the adhesive forces may be strong enough to hold the water with the penny even without surface tension.
There are two factors that we see in water, it's adhesive and cohesive abilities. Better put, it's the ability for water to stick to surfaces as well as stick to itself. This gives an overall "surface tension" that will develop as the bead of water grows. This amount of mass and volume will get too great, however, and the water will no longer be able to hold itself together. If you wanted to lower the surface tension, adding soap would make it so that the water would break after fewer drops.
Water molecules stick together because of the electrical charges in the water create a bond.