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View this post on Instagram Drinking Bird Heat Engine: time lapse of 15 minutes into 15 seconds (4 cycles). Cooling by evaporation at the head leads to lower pressure in the top bulb, the dichloromethane fluid rises up the neck making the bird top heavy and the bird tips over dipping its beak and letting the fluid return to the bottom bulb. The time lapse allows a clearer picture of how the fluid rises, shifting the center of mass, and how tipping makes the glass column lift out of the fluid in the bottom allowing the pressure to equalize and letting gravity pull the fluid to return to the base. Process repeats as long as the top stays wet. So much physics in one hypnotic toy! Follow the link in my profile to buy one of these birds and many other amazing items featured here on @physicsfun #engine #heat #heatengine #thermodynamics #drinkingbird #physics #physicstoy #cycle #timelapse #dippybird #dunkingbird #simpleengine #vaporpressure #latentheat #mechanicalwork #physicsfun #science #scienceisawesome A post shared by physicsfun (@physicsfun) on Jan 10, 2019 at 8:48am PST
Drinking Bird Heat Engine: time lapse of 15 minutes into 15 seconds (4 cycles). Cooling by evaporation at the head leads to lower pressure in the top bulb, the dichloromethane fluid rises up the neck making the bird top heavy and the bird tips over dipping its beak and letting the fluid return to the bottom bulb. The time lapse allows a clearer picture of how the fluid rises, shifting the center of mass, and how tipping makes the glass column lift out of the fluid in the bottom allowing the pressure to equalize and letting gravity pull the fluid to return to the base. Process repeats as long as the top stays wet. So much physics in one hypnotic toy! Follow the link in my profile to buy one of these birds and many other amazing items featured here on @physicsfun #engine #heat #heatengine #thermodynamics #drinkingbird #physics #physicstoy #cycle #timelapse #dippybird #dunkingbird #simpleengine #vaporpressure #latentheat #mechanicalwork #physicsfun #science #scienceisawesome
A post shared by physicsfun (@physicsfun) on Jan 10, 2019 at 8:48am PST
Lesson Ideas
When the felt on the head of the sealed glass bird is wet with water, the bird pivots back and forth into a glass of water. It gives the appearance of drinking!
Instructions: Wet the head of the Drinking Bird, and place a full glass of water near it so that when the head tips forward, only the beak comes in contact with the water. Most Drinking Birds work without adjustment! Sometimes a small adjustment to the pivot point of the bird is needed. Carefully move the metal clip up or down the glass tube, (ca. a millimeter), until the Drinking Bird just balances in a vertical position.
Explanation: Step #1 Water requires heat to evaporate. In this demonstration, water from the wet felt on the outside of the head evaporates, causing the vapor inside the head of the bird to cool. This reduces the pressure of the vapor at the top, allowing the higher pressure in the lower bulb to push up the column of liquid. The pressure of the vapor in the top bulb decreases for two reasons:
Step #2 As the head cools further and more liquid inside the bird rises, the center of gravity of the bird rises, causing the bird to become unstable and tip forward.
Step #3 Eventually, the beak of the bird tips forward enough to rewet its head. When this happens, the bottom end of the glass tube in the lower bulb is above the remaining liquid. Vapor from the bottom travels to the top until the pressure is equalized. At the same time, liquid in the column flows to the bottom. As the center of gravity of the bird is lowered, the bird tips vertical and the cycle starts over.
Suggested Classroom Activities:
I) Classroom Discussion
Q. Is this an example of perpetual motion? A. No. The cycle repeats itself only as long as the water evaporates from the head
Q. What is needed in order for the Drinking Bird to work? A. A difference in temperature between the head and body.
II) Student Challenges
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Students can use the Drinking Bird Demonstration to use and share observations of local weather conditions and describe patterns over time.
Students can use the Drinking Bird Demonstration to make observations and/or measurements of an object's motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.
Students can use the Drinking Bird Demonstration to make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by heat.
Students can use the Drinking Bird Demonstration to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another.
Students can use the Drinking Bird Demonstration in the plan of an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object's motion depends on the sum of the forces on the object and the mass of the object.
Students can use the Drinking Bird Demonstration in an investigation to construct and present arguments using evidence to support the claim that gravitational interactions are attractive and depend on the masses of interacting objects.
Students can use the Drinking Bird Demonstration to develop a model to describe that when the arrangement of objects interacting changes, different amounts of potential energy are stored in the system.
Students can use the Drinking Bird Demonstration to test what either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer.
Students can use the Drinking Bird Demonstration as an introduction to an investigation to use mathematical representations of Newton's Law of Gravitation to predict the gravitational forces between objects.
Students can use the Drinking Bird Demonstration to refine a device that works with given constraints to convert one form of energy into another form of energy.
Students can use the Drinking Bird Demonstration to conduct an investigation to provide evidence that the transfer of thermal energy when two components of different temperature are combined within a closed system results in a more uniform energy distribution among the components in the system.
This amazing 50+-year-old science toy can be linked to physical science, earth science, chemistry and more. Effective for students of all ages. It is important before starting any of the investigations; make sure the bird is at equilibrium. A slight adjustment at the fulcrum or metal clip on the neck up or down is all that is needed until Drinking Bird just balances in a vertical position.
The speed of the bird's dipping cycle changes due to the humidity in the air. If the students watch and collect data; overtime in different weather conditions they will see a correlation. Students can use the Drinking Bird Demonstration to use and share observations of local weather conditions and describe patterns over time.
Students can use the Drinking Bird Demonstration to make observations and investigate motion. Have the students change the temperature of water and make predictions about the speed of the dipping cycle.
Water requires heat to evaporate. In this Drinking Bird Demonstration, water from the wet felt on the outside of the head evaporates, as the vapor in the head cools, the vapor contracts. This causes higher pressure in the lower bulb, allowing liquid to raise up the neck, the center of gravity rises, resulting in the bird to become unstable and tip forward. When the head gets wet, the cycle repeats itself.
Students can use the Drinking Bird Demonstration in an investigation to understand Center of Mass as pressure inside bird changes, so does the fluid moving up the tube.
* NGSS is a registered trademark of Achieve. Neither Achieve nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Science Standards were involved in the production of, and do not endorse, this product.
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