In the video we will learn some properties of liquids such as water:  

• Liquids are incompressible, so squeezing a liquid at one point (e.g., with a syringe) causes it to move somewhere else (e.g., to the other end of the tube). 
• Liquids in a system try to maintain the same level.
• Liquids in a system will try to go downhill if they can (just like a ball will roll downhill).  

Once completed, send your videos to designingthefuture@PennStateOffice365.onmicrosoft.com with “Your Name – Week Six Physics Submission” as the subject line.

Materials needed:

• Syringes (provided in kit) 
• Some way to create a seal (Caulk, glue, or duct tape) 

Do these three challenges for this week: 

Your challenge this week is to do these experiments with hydraulics using water, the two syringes in your kit, the two types of tubing in your kit (orange and clear), and a cup or bottle (that an adult can cut a hole in for you). 

1. Attach the two syringes to the orange tubing but remove the plungers. Pour water into the system until both syringes are about half full. Move the syringes up & down and see how the water level in the syringes adjusts itself. (Send us a brief video showing the water level readjusting itself when you move one of the syringes up/down.)

2. Now put the plungers into their respective syringes, making sure you don’t introduce any air into the line. (This takes some practice and will probably require adding more water.) Design & build something that uses the “small squeeze of the larger syringe leads to large motion of the smaller syringe” principle – like we did the car launcher in the video. Send us a video of it in action!

3. Make a self-draining cup or bottle like in the video using the clear tubing in your kit. This requires cutting or drilling a hole in a bottle or cup (paper or plastic or Styrofoam) to run the clear tubing through the side. (Please have an adult do this. If drilling, the outer diameter of the tubing is ¼”.) Then seal the hole so that air can’t get through it on the sides of the tubing. Caulk, some kinds of glue, or duct tape would work – you may need to experiment. Send us a video of it in action! 

Have fun with Hydraulics (you might get wet in the process 🙂 )! 

Dr. Van Hook