Does the water from a tap flow uniformly?

What you do:

  • Turn on the tap.
  • Watch the water flow.

What you see:

The stream of water is initially of the same size as the opening of the mouth of the tap but it decreases in size as it flows.

Why does this happen?

Surface tension tends to hold the water in a solid stream at the top but as it falls, its speed increases because of the pull of gravity.

When the flow of water is continuous, the amount of water passing through any point should be the same. The amount of flow is determined by the cross sectional area of the stream multiplied by the speed of flow of the water. As the speed of the water increases due to gravity. its size reduces.

Picture Credit : Google 

 

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