View source for Ubbelohde capillary viscometer

A Ubbelohde type viscometer or suspended-level viscometer is a measuring instrument which uses a capillary based method of measuring viscosity. The advantage of this instrument is that the values obtained are independent of the concentration. It is a u-shaped piece of glassware with a reservoir on one side and a measuring bulb with a [[capillary]] on the other. A liquid is introduced into the reservoir then sucked through the capillary and measuring bulb. The liquid is allowed to travel back through the measuring bulb and the time it takes for the liquid to pass through two calibrated marks is a measure for viscosity. The Ubbelohde device has a third arm extending from the end of the capillary and open to the atmosphere. In this way the pressure head only depends on a fixed height and no longer on the total volume of liquid. 


[[Image:ASTM_Ubbelohde_Viscometer.gif]]