MATERIALS AND METHOD
Apparatus Used and Resources Required:
- A pack of Spigadora Spaghetti
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A 25 cm3 measuring cylinder
- String
- A light plastic container
- Measuring Tape
- Cello tape
- Water
- Digital Beam Balance
Diagrams:
Procedure:
- First I took two small tables and placed them parallel to each other. Then using pieces of cello tape I clamped the two ends of a piece of spaghetti of known length to the two tables.
- Then I measured the mass of the plastic container used in the experiment. I tied two pieces of string to both sides of the container and rested it over the piece of spaghetti.
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Then I filled the measuring cylinder with 25 cm3 of water and poured it into the plastic container. If the piece of spaghetti did not break due to this, I filled the measuring cylinder again and poured more water into the container.
- I calculated the volume of water added to the container before the spaghetti broke and noted down my readings.
- All the above steps were repeated for various lengths of spaghettis i.e. 23 cm, 20 cm, 17 cm, 14 cm, 11 cm and 8 cm.
- Thereafter, I carried out the calculations needed using the above collected readings which are outlined in the following pages.
The length of the piece of uncooked spaghetti was varied by moving the small tables closer to or farther from each other, depending on what the span of the spaghetti had to be. And the length of the spaghetti used was measured using a measuring tape.
The volume of water added to the plastic container resting over the piece of uncooked spaghetti was measured using a measuring cylinder and then added to the container. I made sure that my eye level was perpendicular to the mark on the scale towards which the lower meniscus of the water pointed.
Since the same type of spaghetti was used, the thickness i.e. the cross-sectional area of the spaghetti was kept constant hence, not affecting the readings obtained. The temperature at which all the experiments were conducted also remained constant in the room and this was made sure by constantly measuring the temperature of the room every 15 minutes and noting down the temperatures.
RESULTS
Data Collection:
Mass of the plastic container with string attached to it = 12 g = 0.012 kg
Table 1 below shows the different lengths of pieces of uncooked spaghetti used in the experiments and the volumes of water added to the plastic container serving as the load applied to the spaghetti pieces:
Since, water has a density of 1 g cm-3, the values of the volumes of water obtained above serve as the same values for the mass of water used. This means:
Density = Mass / Volume
So, Mass = Density X Volume, and because the density of water is 1, Volume of water = the Mass of Water.
1 kg = 10 N
Using the above conversion, the load applied to the pieces of spaghetti was calculated.
For instance, experiment 1: (25 ± 0.5 g) = (25 ± 2 %)
((25 ± 2 %) * 10) / 1000 = (0.25 ± 2 %) = (0.25 ± 0.005 N)
The above calculations were also carried out for the remaining volumes of water.
Table 2 below shows the mass of water added to the plastic container and their corresponding loads applied to the plastic container:
The above readings were then plotted, and the graph obtained is included in the next page.
The graph included on the next page demonstrates an inversely proportional relationship between the length of the uncooked spaghetti and the load applied to it as an exponential graph is obtained.
However, in order to acquire a linear graph, the graph of (1 / load applied to the pieces of uncooked spaghetti against) length of uncooked spaghetti was then plotted. This graph is attached on page 6.
Graph 1 Showing the Inverse Relationship between the Length of uncooked spaghetti and the load applied to it
(Load Applied VS Length of Uncooked Spaghetti):
Graph 2 Showing the Linear Relationship between the Length of uncooked spaghetti and (1 / load applied) to it
((1 / Load Applied) VS Length of Uncooked Spaghetti):
Conclusion:
After conducting the above mentioned experiment and after analyzing and plotting the collected data in the previous pages, I hereby conclude that the length of pieces of uncooked spaghetti is inversely proportional to the load applied to the uncooked spaghetti. This means that the length of uncooked spaghetti is inversely proportional to the strength of the spaghettis. The longer the piece of uncooked spaghetti, the weaker it is and vice – versa. When the length of the pieces of uncooked spaghetti is decreased, the load the uncooked spaghettis can bear increases i.e. the shorter the piece of spaghetti, the more load it can bear before breaking.
Hence, this means that the longer the piece of uncooked spaghetti, the more brittle and fragile it is and the shorter the piece of uncooked spaghetti, the less brittle and fragile it is. With the results obtained and the graphs plotted, I would also like to conclude that the hypothesis made earlier was also proven correct and true. Also the first graph obtained demonstrates an inversely relationship between the load applied and the strength of uncooked spaghetti as the graph plotted was an exponential graph.
Evaluation:
The method and materials used for this experiment was pretty good, however some improvements could be made for a more accurate and correct result. The following are some of the errors which were experienced while conducting the experiment and improvements which could be made to overcome the errors:
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The water used in this experiment to fill the plastic container was collected from the tap and it might have occurred that there could be some impurities present in that water. Due to the presence of these impurities, the density of water might not have been 1 g cm-3 and hence, this might have affected the mass and load readings calculated using this density. Hence, it would have been appropriate if the density of the water collected was also collected before using the water in this experiment.
- Instead of filling the plastic container with water, another appropriate method could be the use of coins. Coins of known mass could have been used to fill the plastic container and then calculating the load which affects the strength of uncooked spaghetti.
- Further investigation on the strength of spaghetti could be done using different types of spaghettis i.e. spaghettis with different thicknesses meaning spaghettis comprising of different cross-sectional areas. This would help to investigate and determine the relationship between the strength of uncooked spaghetti and its cross-sectional area.
Bibliography:
The information included in the general background in the design section of this lab report on page 1 was obtained from the following web link:
