Oil-droplet coursework help!

[S_Kavanagh]

Hello there!

 

My 16 year old son is in the process of doing his science (foundation) GCSE and is really struggling with a coursework regarding 'oil droplets'.

 

His coursework involves molecules/hydrocarbons and it seems really challenging. I would attempt to help him, however my science knowledge is severely lacking!

 

Have any of you scientific guys come across this coursework before? If so is there anything you remember about it etc?

 

any help/tips would be greatly appreciated!

 

thanks,

 

Sally

[insane_alien]

well, what does he need to know about the droplets? is it milikens oil drop experiment? surface tension? what?

[S_Kavanagh]

His coursework involves investigating the time taken for different viscosity oils to travel down a glass slide.

 

“Suggest reasons why the size/length of the carbon chains affects the runniness of the oil”.

 

"What might affect the speed at which the oil runs down the slide?".

 

"How do the size of oil molecules affect how runny the oil is?".

 

I realise you're not permitted to answer these questions directly but ANY clues/tips would be useful!

 

thanks,

 

sally.

[insane_alien]

right, now we can get somewhere.

 

for the first part, you can consider the oil to be made up of little tiny strings.

 

consider you had a bucket of long strings and a bucket or short strings. which would be the easiest to move your hand through?

 

the third part is basically the same as the first part.

 

and for the second part, its not going to get much simpler that the question given.