Viscosity Basics: For Those of Us Who Aren't Scientists



Can You Define Viscosity Without Feeling Thick?

Do an internet search for the term “viscosity”, and you’ll find a variety of definitions for the word. For example... read more.

How Can I Measure Viscosity?


What is the Difference Between Dynamic and Kinematic Viscosity?


This is my attempt to bring clarity to these two principal ways to measure viscosity... read more.

Is Consistency Viscosity? Not Really!


Why Not A Bostwick Consistometer Calibration Standard?

Customers want Bostwick Consistometer Calibrations. When told that CSC Scientific does not calibrate Bostwick Consistometers, people ask . “Then how can I calibrate my consistometer and where can I get a calibration standard?”... read more.

How Do I Set Up A Bostwick Consistometer?


             1) What angle do I use to set it up?

             2) How do I level the Consistometer?


Who Beats Up Your Bostwick?

Sometimes we encounter a product that is so simple and rugged that it would be tempting to deem it indestructible. Consider a stainless steel trough with a gate and etched numbers on the bottom. Seems simple and the stainless would make it tough, right? That is not the case, but it has survived nearly unchanged for more than 85 years... read more.

How To Fix An Abused Bostwick Consistometer


Surface Tension and Interfacial Tension


What are the Primary Conditions Affecting Surface Tension?

One of the ways to describe surface tension in fluids is: the property of a liquid’s surface that resists force. It serves as a barrier to foreign materials and holds the liquid together. This ever-present property is caused by unbalanced forces on surface molecules that pull toward the main part of the liquid... read more.

Surface Tension Measurement -- How High Is High Enough?

I am regularly startled by little things that trigger new understanding about our slice of the instrument World.  This time it is about surface tension.

As you know, if you’re involved with the phenomenon of surface tension, the most common unit of measure is the dyne/centimeter. This represents the force needed to overcome the energy that keeps the surface of a liquid from flying into the air... read more.

Which Type of Tensiometer Do I Need?




When Do I Need An Automatic Digital Tensiometer?


Why Calibrate a CSC DuNouy Tensiometer?

Within the catalog of questions we are asked is a category related to Calibrating duNouy Ring Tensiometers. The subject matter ranges from how, why and what is proven?... read more.

Is Calibrating a CSC Tensiometer Hard?

We get repeated queries about calibration of our DuNouy Ring Tensiometers. That makes me think that calibrating procedures to insure accurate surface tension measurment needs some clarification.

Our questions fall into the three general categories... read more.

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Having Trouble Performing a duNouy Ring Test in Thick Samples?

My musings were interrupted this week with a pressing challenge. It was stated like this: “My duNouy ring kept falling off the arm hook when attempting to immerse it into a high-viscosity sample.” This is the first time any of us at CSC Scientific recall being presented with such a dilemma. This client was using a single arm tensiometer to do surface tension measurements... read more.

Is My Test Equipment Lying?



How Does Surface Tension Relate to Viscosity?

To begin with, liquid surface tension and viscosity share a common trait: they both involve properties of fluids. After that, things start to get murky.

Let us start with surface tension. This relates to the property of a liquid’s surface that resists force; it serves as a barrier to foreign materials as well as keeping the liquid together. This ever-present property is caused by unbalanced forces on surface molecules that pull toward the main part of the liquid... read more.

Viscosity, Consistency and Surface Tension - What Are These Things?


“How do we correlate the measurements among these different properties?” 

The simple answer is that they are different, they are measured in different ways and the measurements cannot be correlated... read more.

How Are Consistency, Surface Tension and Viscosity Different?



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