How many drops of water can fit into a penny? - Answers

Ideally, everyone performing the experiment would include the following: - distilled waterThere are a lot of factors involved. The cohesion and adhesion ('stickiness') of water molecules can be effected by things like oils (on surface pennies from peoples' skin) and other contaminates on the penny. The size of the dropper or pipette will determine the size of each water droplet - the larger the drop, the fewer number of drops will fit on the penny. The manner in which the water is added to the penny is also a factor. Water has a cohesive nature (the molecules are kind of like magnets and are attracted to one another). Therefore, if the drop from the pipette is allowed to touch the water already on the surface of the penny, the water can be 'pulled' out of the dropper. When this happens, the size (volume) of the drop is not always the same - it could be a very small amount (which will result in a very large number of drops), or a large amount. Ideally, everyone performing the experiment would include the following: - distilled water - same type/size of calibrated dropper/pipette - same date of penny - penny cleaned as thoroughly as possible using same cleaning procedure - same 'dropping' procedure