Amity Institute of Pharmacy

Amity Institute of Pharmacy

B.Pharm, IV Sem
Physical Pharmaceutics-II (Practical)

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Experiment No. 5

Aim: To determine the viscosity of given sample by Ostwald’s

viscometer

References:
1.Sinko PJ and Singh Y. Martin’s Physical Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical
Sciences: physical, chemical and biopharmaceutical principles in
pharmaceutical sciences. 6th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams &
Wilkins; 2011. Chapter 8, Buffered and Isotonic Solutions; p. 469-471.

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Requirements:

A)Chemicals: Distilled water, glycerin,

B)Glassware: measuring cylinder, pippete, Ostwald viscometer,

relative density bottle, burette stand

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THEORY: Viscosity is the force of friction between two layers

of liquid moving past one another at different velocities or it is the
resistance to flow exhibited by the liquid . It is expressed by η.

Ostwald’s viscometer : It is an apparatus used in the measurement

of viscosity of Newtonian liquid.
It consists of a U shaped glass tube, each arm of which includes
one bulb of different size.The smaller sized bulb is at a higher level
than the other one and is attached to a capillary tube within the arm
of a glass tube.

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A known volume of liquid is taken in the bigger sized bulb and is

sucked into the smaller sized bulb and liquid is allowed to flow
through the capillary tube and is collected in the bigger sized
bulb.The time taken to flow a volume,V, of liquid through
capillary tube is noted down. This is related to viscosity of liquid
through the Poiseuille’s equation

Ostwald viscometer
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Poiseuille’s equation =

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Procedure:
Throughly clean the viscometer with a mixture of warm chromic acid and if
necessary clean the viscometer with solvent
 After cleaning dry the viscometer completely
Fix the viscometer on the burette stand vertically
Fill purified water in the viscometer.(say 25 ml)
Report the time taken to flow water between two points.
 Repeat the readings at least three times carefully and take average of these
readings
 Remove purified water from the viscometer and rinse with the liquid under
investigation for two or three times and then fill the liquid in the same way as
purified water

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 Further arrange the equipment properly and report the time

taken to flow of liquid between two points A & B
 Take readings at least three times and take average of these
readings for the calculations.
 Find out the relative density of the liquid under investigation
using the relative density bottle 

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Observations:

OBSERVATION TABLE

Sl Time taken to flow between

no. Liquid two points (secs) AverageTime(secs)
    I II II  
1 Water        
2 Sample        

Viscosity of sample

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THANK YOU

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