Fluids
AP Physics 1
Density, Pressure, Buoyancy; oh my!
OBJ: Recall density, define pressure, and appreciate its effect of buoyancy
Announcements:
● Angular Collision Lab due tonight
● Tests back tomorrow
● Quest due Sunday night
Density 𝜌=m/V
● Density is defined as the ratio of mass to volume for an object
● Represented by the greek letter rho 𝜌
● Has units of kg/m3 (in other contexts Kg/L, or even g/mL)
What is the mass of an aluminium cube with side length 0.1 m and density
2,700 kg/m3?
Specific Gravity
An object’s “Specific Gravity” is its density presented as a ratio with the density of
some reference density, in this case the density of water.
Specific Gravity of Iron = 𝜌iron/𝜌water
Specific Gravity of Iron = (7870 kg/m3) / (1000 kg/m3)
Specific Gravity of Iron = 7.87
No units, since the units cancel out as part of the ratio.
What is Pressure (P)?
What is Pressure (P)? All sorts of things!
● Force/Area
○ (think spreading out a force, vs a fine point. Bed of spikes for example)
● Force*Distance/Volume
○ (think work done on a volume of fluid)
● Energy/Volume
○ (think energy stored in a volume by squeezing)
● mgh/Volume
○ (think pressure increases with depth based on mass of fluid above it)
● P=nRT/V
○ (think thermal energy per volume of ideal gas (not a liquid!), but we don’t actually do this)
All the above could have units of kg/(m*s2), called a Pascal, or Pa
Atmospheric pressure is 101,325 Pa (101.3 KPa), which we call 1 atm.
Pressure under a fluid increases linearly with depth
Pressure at any given depth is due to
the force of gravity on the fluid above it.
You can think of it as the Ug difference
between the surface and current depth.
P = mg*depth/V
P = 𝜌fluidg*depth
P=𝜌fluidgh
Buoyancy (aka Archimedes’ Principle)
● According to this principle the buoyant force on an object equals the
weight of the fluid it displaces. It points upwards.
● In equation form: Fb on submerged object=Fg of displaced fluid
○ Fb=mdisplaced fluid*g
■ Use density 𝜌=m/V
○ Fb=(𝜌fluid*Vdisplaced fluid)*g
○ Fb=𝜌fluid*Vobject*g
○ Fb=𝜌Vg
Oddly, the effect of buoyancy is
actually just a pressure and
depth thing.
Since the pressure on the bottom
and the top of the object is
slightly different, you get an
unbalanced force which is
buoyancy.
This picture is with a regular
cylinder, but even with irregular
shapes calculus shows us that
the conclusion is the same,
Fb=𝜌 fluidVobjectg
Buoyancy (aka Archimedes’ Principle) Fb=𝜌Vg
What is the buoyant force on our aluminum cube with side length 0.1m
when submerged in water?
Does it float? (let’s draw a FBD)
Buoyancy (aka Archimedes’ Principle) Fb=𝜌Vg
Partially submerged items experience the buoyant force only for the
volume they displace. This is how objects float! N’s 1st Law FTW!
The density of ice is 916 kg/m3, what percent of an iceberg is above the
surface?
Buoyancy (aka Archimedes’ Principle) Fb=𝜌Vg
How much of a meter stick needs to submerge for it to float? (demo)
Okay, what’s the density of the meter stick? (let’s measure the dimensions
of the meter stick!)
Buoyancy (aka Archimedes’ Principle) Fb=𝜌Vg
What is the normal force on me? (density of air is 1.3 kg/m3)
Drag and Derivations
OBJ: Solve for drag forces that cause terminal velocity, and derive expressions for
missing quantities by applying Newton’s 2nd Law.
Agenda:
● Drag
● Derivations Practice
● Pulleys
● MCQ practice
Reminders:
Demo: ping-pong ball
A ping-pong ball of radius .02 m and mass 2.7 g is
submerged in water. It is held in place by a string
attached to the bottom of the tank.
● Draw a FBD on the ping-pong ball.
● What’s the tension in the string?
Zoomin Fish Tank
What direction does the ball lean when the tank
is accelerated to the right?
[Link]
buoyancy_all.html
Buoyancy Simulation
Drag (read 5.2 in textbook! For fun)
● Not really responsible for calculating drag, but should understand where it
comes from.
● Drag comes from the collisions with the molecules in a fluid
○ Makes sense that more dense fluids like water have more drag than less dense fluids like air.
● Unlike friction, which acts independent of velocity, drag DOES depend on
velocity.
● Low speeds: FDrag = k*v
● High speeds: FDrag = k*v2
● k is based on the density of the fluid, the viscosity of the fluid, the surface
area of the object, and the shape of the object.
Drag and terminal velocity
A 60 kg skydiver jumps from an airplane. They accelerate until they reach a terminal
velocity of 50 m/s. What is the drag force when they reach this speed?
If the drag is quadratic in nature (F=kv2), what is the coefficient in front, k?
If the skydiver doubled their mass, what would be their new terminal velocity?
If they were underwater, which has 1000 times the density (and thus k value), what
would be their new terminal velocity
Pipe Flow (Mass and Energy Conservation)
OBJ: Apply the conservation of mass and the conservation of energy (density) to
fluid flowing through a pipe.
● Quest Sunday
● Test Corrections Tuesday
● Progress Check due Wednesday
● Test Thursday
Mass Conservation: “Continuity”
The total mass passing through A1 per second must
be the same as the mass passing through A2.
● Depends on the “steady-state” condition, which
says that we’ve waited until the flow pattern has
settled and is no longer changing over time.
● Assumes the pipes are full Since fluids are
● Assumes no change in density incompressible, p1=p2
(incompressibility)
● No assumptions about turbulence or friction A1v1=A2v2
Example
If a pipe of diameter 0.1 m has a liquid flowing at 5 m/s, and farther down the pipe
is reduced to 0.04 m, what is the velocity at the far end of the pipe?
What would be the new pressure at the top of the pipe?
Bernoulli’s Equation
● This is an energy
density conservation
● Now we are
assuming no
turbulence or friction
● Compares two points
along the same path
a fluid might take
This is very counter intuitive, since we see the
pipe “squeezing” the fluid, and yet the pressure
decreases!
What would be the new pressure at the top of the pipe?
2A1=A2
v1= 2 m/s
Change in elevation is 5 m
Initial pressure is 44 psi (about 3 atm)
Link for further reading:
[Link]
Torricelli's Theorem (how fast does the water come out?)
Fluid Demos
Quest due Sunday night
Test Next Thursday
What happens to the reading on scale?
What angle is the envelope?
Why do you think the angle of the envelope is 45 deg
Derive an expression for R (in terms of H, h, g, 𝜌)