

Viscosity is a liquid’s resistance to flowing. The question answered in this experiment is: how does the consistency of a liquid impact how long it will take for a marble to sink in a jar of that liquid? A unique property of liquids is something called viscosity. Watch the Viscosity of Liquids Science Experiment Step by Step Instructions How Does the Science Experiment Work? Viscosity of Liquids Science Experiment Video Tutorial It also contains ideas on how you can expand on the experiment. Was your hypothesis correct? Do you know why some marbles sink to the bottom of the jar quickly and some marbles sink to the bottle of the jar slowly?įind out the answer in the how does this experiment work section below. You’ll notice right away that the marble behaves differently in each jar.

Drop one marble at a time and observe what happens to the marble when it enters the liquid. 73) or the Pathologist on call for Immunology (73).Step 2 – Carefully drop one marble into each jar. Questions? Please contact the Immunology Laboratory Director (J. In this example, the whole blood is as viscous as would be expected- based on hematocrit- therefore the observed hyperviscosity is attributable to the increase in RBCs (polycythemia). (It will also be informative to directly perform an assay (Monoclonal gammopathy evaluation) to identify the M-protein.)Įxample 2: Patient B's reported whole blood viscosity is 58% her concurrent (actual) hematocrit is 58%. If an M-protein is responsible, the plasma viscosity, expressed in cP, will also be increased above the upper limit of normal. This is most likely will be protein- e.g. In this example, the whole blood is more viscous than would be expected- based on hematocrit - therefore element(s) in addition to RBC, contribute to the increased whole blood viscosity. Whole blood viscosity- expressed in equivalent hematocrit can be thought of as "this whole blood is as viscous as the whole blood would be if its hematocrit were X"Įxample 1: Patient A's reported whole blood viscosity is 54% his concurrent (actual) hematocrit is 36%. (The conversion from cP to hematocrit equivalent is based on the mathematical relationship between these two units of measure). Whole blood viscosity measurements are converted from centipoise to "equivalent hematocrit".

The torque necessary to overcome the viscous resistance of whole blood or plasma is measured in centipoise (cP). Samples are warmed to 37 degrees in order to recapitulate core body temperature. Whole Blood and Plasma Viscosity: InterpretationĪnticoagulated whole blood and plasma viscosity are measured using a Brookfield cone-plate (rotary) viscometer.

Usually, a given patient's symptoms will reproducibly appear at a given viscosity, although this will vary from patient to patient. Most patients do not become symptomatic until the plasma viscosity exceeds 4.0 cP. Test includes directly measured plasma viscosity and the derived whole blood viscosity.
