Fluid dynamics / water making a radius

[angel_of_pizza2000]

jaaa 1st post! god please hlep me just because it is

we have this weird experiment given to us and its about how if u get a water flowing down a tube and make it slide down and hit a surface and make it flow hard/fast enuff the water makes a shape of a circle with some radius. we're supposed to do an experiment focusing on wat variables affect the size of the circle created by the gush of water. I've thought of rate of flow, volume of water, force of water ,presusre, density, ... got any few pointers on how i can approach this experemnt? what field is this related to.. fluid dynamics? wuld appreciate some direction for this experemnt

cuz force of water... looked up stuff on volumetric flow and flux and stuff... how could something concrete, mathematical i can use? thanks a lot

 

[HallsofIvy]

Why do you want formulas? You are supposed to do an experiment. Formulas are derived from the results of experiments, not the other way round.

 

[andrevdh]

The basic idea is to change one variable and see how that influences the radius, R, of the circle. Let's say the rate of flow of the water, f. You change the rate of flow of the water to say f1, f2, f3, f4 and in each case measure the radius of the circle. If the radius of the circle changes when the rate of flow is altered (R1, R2, R3, R4) , then you know that there is some functional relationship between the two variables. A graph may give some indication what the relationship might be. Repeat the procedure by changing another variable, like the angle of the tube and see how it influences the radius of the circle.

I would think that the arc should be a parabola rather than a circle thought.