Calculating the dynamic viscosity of a fluid using image processing of a falling ball

Dynamic viscosity is a fundamental property of fluids that measures their resistance to flow under applied forces or shear stress. This study aims to calculate the dynamic viscosity of pure glycerol at different temperatures, using the falling ball approach. In this method, a ball was released in a tube filled with glycerol, and its movements were then tracked and analyzed using image processing with a Python program. We then determined the viscosity and compared it with the actual viscosity of the liquid. We hypothesized that this method would yield overall accurate measurements when compared to established reference methods but that there would also be a rise in inaccuracies with the increase in temperature. Our results support our hypothesis and were accurate to within 6.9% error but found no correlation between rise in temperature and measurement errors. We concluded that this approach requires more specialized equipment to investigate low viscosity fluids. Despite this study's limitations, it provided valuable insights into the applicability of the falling ball method and emphasizes the accuracy of this method.