
Rain-X vs. Aquapel Water Repellency
Medium
You have probably seen water bead up and roll off a treated windshield. But do all water repellents work equally well? This project tests two popular brands side by side.
You coat two glass sheets with Rain-X and Aquapel. Then you tilt each sheet to five different angles. At each angle, you drop water on the surface and time how long it takes to travel 10 centimeters.
The faster the water moves, the better the coating. You find out which brand lets water slide off more quickly.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis is that car windscreens with Rain-X are able to repel water better.
Method & Materials
You will compare two water repellents, Rain-X and Aquapel, by measuring the time it takes for a water droplet to travel 10 cm down the surface of the glass sheets.
You will need two glass sheets, a bottle of Rain-X, a bottle of Aquapel, a wooden block, a marker pen, an eye-dropper, a beaker of water, a ruler, a stopwatch, a protractor, and a piece of cloth.
Results
The results showed that the water droplet on the glass coated with Rain-X traveled more quickly than the water droplet on the glass coated with Aquapel. This proves that car windscreens with Rain-X are able to repel water better.
Why do this project?
This science project is interesting because it shows how different water repellents can affect the speed of water droplets.
Also Consider
To vary the experiment, you could fix the angle of slant of the glass and vary the speed of the wind, or you could use different brands of water repellent like Rain Clear.
Full project details
Additional information and source material for this project are available below.Related videos
These videos explain the science behind this project and demonstrate key concepts used in the experiment.
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