Fluids

Fluids
• Fluids are substances with no xed shape.
• Gasses have space between molecules allowing them
compress or expand.
• Liquids cannot be compressed.
• An ideal uid is incompressible and has no viscosity
(resistance to ow).

Density
• Mass density is mass per unit volume.
m
ρ=
V
fl
fl
fi
Example
The density of air at 20°C is 1.20 kg/m3. What is the
approximate mass of air in this room?
Pressure
• Pressure is the magnitude of the perpendicular force
component exerted per unit area
F⊥
P=
A
• SI unit: Pascal (Pa)
• equivalent to N/m2

• Also commonly used is the standard atmosphere (atm).

• 1 atm is Earth’s atmospheric pressure at sea level.
• 1 atm = 1.01325 × 105 Pa

• Absolute pressure is the

total pressure measured
relative to a perfect
vacuum (zero pressure).
• Gauge pressure is the
pressure measured with
respect to the
atmospheric pressure.
• The absolute pressure is
the sum of a reference
pressure P0, such as the atmospheric pressure Patm, and
the gauge pressure Pgauge.

P = P0 + Pgauge
 Hydrostatics
• Hydrostatics is the study of uids at hydrostatic
equilibrium (i.e. not owing).
• At equilibrium, the net force is zero.

• Pressure in a uid is a result of the motion of the

molecules that make up the uid. The force exerted by the
uid is due to molecules colliding with their surroundings.
• The force resulting from uid pressure at a particular point
in a uid has the same magnitude in all directions.

• Consider a cylindrical column of liquid in equilibrium

(Fnet = 0).
Pbottom A = P0 A + mg
mg
Pbottom = P0 +
A
ρVg
= P0 +
A
= P0 + ρgh
fl
fl
fl
fl
fl
fl
fl
 • A uid in equilibrium exerts pressure due to its weight. The
gauge pressure in a uid of uniform density is given by

Pgauge = ρgh
where h is the depth below the uid’s surface.

• In hydrostatic equilibrium, the

pressure is the same at all
points on a horizontal line
through a connected liquid of
a single kind.

• A connected liquid in
hydrostatic equilibrium rises
to the same height in all open
regions of the container.

Example
A scuba diver descends to a depth of 40 m.
a) What pressure is read by her scuba equipment?
b) What is the absolute pressure at this point?
fl
fl
fl
Example
A U-shaped tube open to the air at
both ends contains some mercury
(density 1.36 × 104 kg/m3). A
quantity of water is carefully poured
into the left arm of the U-shaped
tube until the vertical height of the
water column is 15.0 cm.
a) What is the gauge pressure at
the water–mercury interface?
b) Calculate the vertical distance h from the top of the
mercury in the right-hand arm of the tube to the top of
the water in the left-hand arm.
• Pascal’s Principle: When force is
applied to an enclosed
incompressible uid, the change in
pressure is transmitted equally to
all parts of the uid and to the
walls of its container.

P1 = P2

• With a hydraulic lift, a given force applied over a given

distance can be transformed to a greater force applied
over a smaller distance.
fl
fl
 Example
A 70 kg student balances a 1200 kg
elephant on a hydraulic lift which is lled
with oil of density 900 kg/m3.
a) What is the diameter of the piston the
student is standing on?
b) When a second student joins the
rst, the piston sinks 35 cm. What is
the second student’s mass?
fi
fi
Buoyancy
• The buoyant force is a net upward force exerted on an
object by a uid.
• The buoyant force is a result of the
pressure di erence at the top and
bottom of the object in a uid.
Fb = Fbottom − Ftop
= Pbottom A − Ptop A
= ρghbottom A − ρghtop A
= ρg (hbottom − htop) A
= ρVg

• Archimedes’ Principle: The buoyant force exerted on an

object by a uid is directed upwards and has a magnitude
equal to the weight of the uid displaced by the object.

Fb = ρVg
where ρ is the uid density and V is the volume of the
displaced uid.

• For a fully-submerged object, the displaced volume is

equal to the total volume of the object.
• For a partially-submerged object, the displaced volume is
equal to the volume of the portion of the object which is
below the surface of the uid.

• Objects which are more dense than a uid will sink.

• Objects which are less dense than a uid will oat.
fl
ff
fl
fl
fl
fl
fl
fl
fl
fl
fl
Example
Determine the tension in each string. The density of ethyl
alcohol is 789 kg/m3.
Example
What fraction of the volume of an iceberg (density
917 kg/m3) would be visible if the iceberg oats in the ocean
(salt water, density 1024 kg/m3)?

fl
 Hydrodynamics
• Hydrodynamics is the study of uids in motion.
• Three assumptions for an ideal uid:
1. Fluid is incompressible.
2. Fluid is non-viscous.
3. Fluid velocity at any xed point in the uid is
constant (laminar ow).

• Flow rate is the volume of a uid that passes a particular

point in a given time.

V Ad
Q= = = Av
t t

• Equation of Continuity: The ow rate of an ideal uid is

constant at all points in a tube.
• The mass of a moving uid does not change as it ows.
As mass is conserved:
m1 m2
=
t t
ρ1V1g ρ2V2g
=
t t
ρ1A1d1 ρ2 A2d2
=
t t If uid is
ρ1A1v1 = ρ2 A2v2 incompressible,
ρ1 = ρ2.
A1v1 = A2v2

• Flow rate is greater at the narrower parts of a tube.

fl
fl
fi
fl
fl
fl
fl
fl
fl
fl
fl
Example
A shower head has 20 circular openings, each with radius
1 mm. The shower head is connected to a pipe with radius
8 mm. If the speed of water in the pipe is 3 m/s, what is its
speed as it exits the shower-head openings?
• Bernoulli’s Equation relates the pressure, ow speed and
elevation for any two points in an ideal uid.
• Applying the work-energy theorem:
W1 + Ek,1 + Ep,1 = W2 + Ek,2 + Ep,2
1 2 1 2
F1d1 + mv1 + mgy1 = F2d2 + mv2 + mgy2
2 2
F1d1 1 mv1 mgy1 F2d2 1 mv22 mgy2
2
+ + = + +
V 2 V V V 2 V V
1 2 1 2
P1 + ρv1 + ρgy1 = P2 + ρv2 + ρgy2
2 2
where y represents elevation (as opposed to depth h, as
seen in the hydrostatic pressure equation).
fl
fl
• Special cases:
1. Fluid at rest or moving at a constant velocity (v1 = v2):
P1 + ρgy1 = P2 + ρgy2
ΔP = ρg (y1 − y2) = ρgΔh
• For a uid at equilibrium, the pressure increases with
depth. This agrees with the hydrostatic pressure
equation.

2. Horizontal Pipe (constant elevation, y1 = y2):

1 2 1 2
P1 + ρv1 = P2 + ρv2
2 2
• In a horizontal pipe, the faster a uid uid ows, the
lower the pressure will be.

3. No change in pressure (e.g. hole in a leaky container

with an open top):
1 2 1 2
ρv1 + ρgy1 = ρv2 + ρgy2
2 2
1 2 1 2
v1 + gy1 = v2 + gy2 By the equation
2 2
v22 = v12 + 2g (y1 − y2) of continuity, if
A2 ≪ A1, v1 ≈ 0.
v2 = 2gh
• Torricelli’s theorem: The speed of an ideal uid
through a hole in the wall of the tank lled to a height
h above the hole is the same as the speed that a body
would acquire in falling freely from a height h.
fl
fl
fi
fl
fl
fl
Example
Oil of density 900 kg/m3 ows
through a pipe. What does the top
pressure gauge read?
fl
Example
Water stands at a depth H = 40 cm in
a large, open tank whose side walls
are vertical. A hole is made in one of
the walls at a depth h = 10 cm below
the water surface.
a) At what distance R does the stream strike the oor?
b) At what depth should a second hole be made to give the
same value of R?

fl
Example
Water ows through a horizontal pipe
and then out into the atmosphere at a
speed v1 = 15 m/s. The diameters of
the left and right sections of the pipe
are 5 cm and 3 cm.
a) What volume of water ows into the atmosphere during
a 10 min period?
b) What is the speed v2 in the left section of the pipe?
c) What is the gauge pressure in the left section of the
pipe?
fl
fl
 Example
An airplane wing has a surface area of 20 m². The speed of
air ow over the top surface is 70 m/s, and the speed of
air ow under the bottom surface is 50 m/s. The density of
air is 1.225 kg/m3. Determine the net lift force acting on the
wing.
fl
fl