ZN+SF

====__Materials:__ Giant brand aluminum foil, Giant brand long grain enriched white rice, Stain Shield Container (750mL), microwave, thermometer, ice cubes, tap water, Giant brand iodized salt, 100mL graduated cylinder, teaspoon====

__Procedure:__

 * 1) ====Gather all materials====
 * 2) ====In container number 1, fill with 300mL of room temp tap water. ( 21 C)====
 * 3) ====Add 1 teaspoon of salt and mix well====
 * 4) ====Place small piece of foil on surface and place one piece of rice at a time until it sinks.====
 * 5) ====Record====
 * 6) ====Repeat steps 2-5 10 times. Then repeat 10 times each with 2 tsp and 3 tsp of salt.====
 * 7) ====In container 1, fill with 300mL of cold tap water ( 10 C)====
 * 8) ====Add 1 teaspoon of salt and mix well====
 * 9) ====Add rice to foil piece until it sinks====
 * 10) ====Record====
 * 11) ====Repeat steps 7-9 10 times. Then repeat 10 times each with 2 tsp and 3 tsp of salt.====
 * 12) ====In container 1, fill with 300mL of warm tap water ( 28 C)====
 * 13) ====Add 1 teaspoon of salt and stir.====
 * 14) ====Perform rice check and record. Then repeat 10 times each with 2 tsp and 3 tsp of salt.====
 * 15) ====Repeat this method with warm water and then with cold water.====

====11/13/11- Gathered all materials needed for experimentation. Figured out exact temperatures to set the water samples to. They are as followed; Warm will be raised to the average temperature of the Gulf of Mexico at 28 degrees Celsius. The cold sample of water will be tested at 10 degrees Celsius. Finally, the third sample of water will be room temperature at 21 degrees Celsius.====

====11/15/11- Began experimentation. Procedure was altered by which temperature liquid will be tested first. The room temperature water will be first, followed by cold, and then warm. The first test was done and the temperature of the water may vary a little bit above or under that 21 degree mark. Trial one's results were far higher than I expected. The salt did not mix as well as I would have thought at first, but then dissolved nicely. Trials two and three followed with close results. Next, the same temp. water was tested this time with two teaspoons of salt. First trial showed a pretty big decrease. Trials two and three remained about the same with that decrease from i teaspoon. Finally, three tsp, of salt were added to the water for testing. The three trials were far higher than any of the previous results. In the two tsp set, the same foil was used and that may have resulted in error.====

====12/18/11- Set up and conducted the second set of experimentation. This time the warm water was bring tested with the one, two, and three teaspoons of salt being added to them and stirred. The temperature of ten degrees Celsius was pretty right on. The first trial was conducted with one teaspoon of salt added, and the results were higher than expected; well above any of the trials in the room temp. experiments.Nine more trials were conducted with similar results except for the sixth trial. Reasons for this are not quite understood. The two and three teaspoons results increased gradually.====

====12/20/11- The trials of the warm water and salt were tested today. After adding three ice cubes to the very hot water, I finally got the temperature to twenty eight degrees Celsius. The results are high and I am beginning to make connections to the real life scenario. The predicted results for the next two measured amounts of salt and warm water were expected to increase even more and did.====

====In the experiment conducted, different temperatures of water and measured amounts of salinity were tested for maximum surface tension. Relating this to surfing around the world was the goal. The most known bodies of water around the US were analyzed on a smaller scale. The bodies of water were the Atlantic and Pacific ocean along with the Gulf of Mexico. The measured amounts of salt added to the different waters were one teaspoon, two teaspoons, and three teaspoons. Rice pellets were placed on tin foil floating on the water and looked at to see how many it took to make the foil sink. This would directly tell or give and idea as to what the surface tension is like.====

====After several tests, the warm water in general was found to have the highest results by far. Referring to table 1 "Warm Water" results show that the number of pellets on average were far greater than any other trial. Throughout that group, the results were pretty consistent. However, more specifically, the trials of warm water mixed with three tablespoons of water were the highest at 174 pellets. This makes a lot of sense when comparing it to the real world. The Pacific Ocean is the more popular surfing site down around Hawaii. The temperature of the water there is more consistently warmer and higher in salinity than the Atlantic.The trials of room temperature water were unexpectantly far worse than the other two temperatures of water. For example, the average number of pellets in total were 110.2 pellets. When testing two tablespoons of salt the results were very different and far lower according to table 1 "room temp water". This could have been because of the same piece of foil being used after the first set of trials, or because of how well mixed the salt was within the container.==== ====According to the graphs, the cold water was actually closer to the warm temperature results, but still not as high. For example, the graphs between the two are almost identical to each other. They increase from the one teaspoon all the way up to the three teaspoons. This makes sense when looking at the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The Atlantic is colder for a longer period of time and therefore the numbers are less than the warmer and more salty Pacific.====

====There could have been several errors throughout experimentation. The unchanging of the foil after every trial and the additional salt that could be on the bottom of the foil increasing the tension. Additionally, The exact and correct temperature of the water may have varied from trials. Also, counting out the rice pellets individually and keeping count could have been responsible for some error as well.====

====Improvements may include using a different method of measuring the tension. Instead of using rice pellets, using something else to reduce the chance of error. More extreme temperatures would have allowed for a more clear understanding of how different temperatures affect the tension. It would be interesting to explore the how the surface area of the foil makes a difference in the experiment.====

====Three different temperatures of water and three different measured amounts of salt were tested to see which combination had the highest surface tension. According to the graphs and tables, the cold and warm water with three teaspoons of salt brought the best results. The conclusion was that the warmer the water with the higher salinity creates the greatest surface tension. This means that for the most part, there is a benefit to surfing on the west coast and down around closer to the equator. Even further investigation could explore more specifically which months of the year are better for surfing on certain bodies of water.====

After several trials and analyzing of the data, there is a very clear answer to the problem. The hypothesis of
==== If the salinity and temperature of the water are increased, then the surface tension will increase; Thus creating better surfing conditions, has been proven correct. The warmer the water and higher salinity content, the higher the surface tension will be. ====

__ Application: __
==== The experiment relates to surfing in the real world in a variety a bodies of water. The major bodies of water were scaled down for the experiment and the Pacific ocean has shown the results to have the highest surface tension. This is why the common assumption and surf culture is most affiliated with the west coast. The study could be taken to the next level and tested by each month of the year and specific surfing sites around the world and not just around the U.S. The surface area of the board itself and the body weight of the person could also be taken into account. ====