How big is a water droplet?
This activity makes students think about
how investigations should be conducted and allows
them to practice their inquiry-based skills. Students
are simply asked to find the answer to the single
question; “How big is a water droplet?” Students are
provided with a beaker, water, pipettes, and paper
towels. Although this seems a relatively easy
question to answer, once you begin studying how
20 Volume 33(2) May 2007 Kremer et al.
water drips, and the different factors which affect the
size of a water droplet, you begin to realize it is much
more difficult to answer than you first thought.
There are a surprising number of possible
variables that could affect the size of water drops
coming from a pipette. When asked students
suggested that the height from which water is dripped
the size of the aperture of the pipette, the properties
of the water, and the surface on which the water is
dripped could all have an affect on the final size of a
water droplet. They were then prompted to carry out
experiments to find out how big a water droplet is,
and whether these suggested variables did in fact
affect the droplet size.