Paper Clips in Water Experiment

I did an experiment involving paper clips and water.

RESEARCH QUESTION:

How many paperclips can you put into a full cup of water without it spilling?

HYPOTHESIS:

If you put enough paper clips in a cup of water to fill the cup then there would be 5 paper clips in the cup because only so many paper clips can fit in the cup without it spilling.

MATERIALS:

-Water

-Cup

-Paper clips

METHOD:

1. Fill a cup with water until it reaches the very top of the cup
2. One by one, place paper clips in the cup

OBSERVATIONS

1. Around 80 paper clips fit into the cup
2. A ‘bubble’ was formed on the top of the cup as more and more paper clips were added
3. Once it got to around 80 paper clips it spilled

CONCLUSION:

My hypothesis was far from correct. I never imagined of 80 paper clips being able to fit into the full cup of water.

When doing that experiment, I noticed when it got to around 60 paper clips the water was going out of the cup without spilling—like a bubble. This was because there was cohesion between the hydrogen and oxygen making surface tension.

If I did this experiment again, I would make sure to have nobody touch the table to there won’t be any chance of it spilling due to the vibration of the table.