Measuring the Flow of Tiny Amounts of Liquid, With Light (VIDEO)

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Caption

Researchers want to measure the flow of liquids at rates as small as ten-billionths of a liter per minute. This rate of flow is so slow that if you tried to pour yourself a glass of soda, it would take 68 years to empty the can. Manipulating tiny amounts of liquid is useful for things like managing doses of medicine and controlling chemical mixtures for manufacturing. This animation demonstrates how NIST scientists can measure tiny rates of flow using laser light.

Credit

S. Kelley/NIST

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