Conceptual Questions:: 14.1. Fluids, Density, Pressure

Kathleen A.
Rafanan FLUID MECHANICS

BSED-SCIENCE I 2020.02.03
Conceptual Questions:
14.1. Fluids, Density, Pressure
1. Which of the following substances are fluids at room temperature and atmospheric pressure: air,
mercury, water, glass?
Answer: At room temperature, substances like air, mercury and water are fluids while
on atmospheric pressure, still, air, mercury and water are fluids.
2. Why are gases easier to compare than liquids and solids?

Answer: The distant between gas particles are so disperse from one another making a
lot of space between them. The forces between them are very weak and they vibrate and move
freely making it easier to compress than a liquid or solid.
3. Explain how the density of air varies with altitude.

Answer: At higher altitude, there is less air pushing down from above and gravity is
weaker since it’s farther from the Earth’s center. Therefore higher altitudes results to a
decrease air density because air molecules can spread out more.
4. The image shows a glass of ice water filled to the brim. Will the water overflow when the ice
melts? Explain your answer.
Answer: The water will not overflow when the ice melts. The mass of the ice is said to be
roughly the same as the amount of extra water when it melts.
5. How is pressure related to the sharpness of a knife and its ability to cut?
Answer: Pressure is force divided by area. If a knife is sharp, the force applied to the
cutting surface is divided over a smaller area than the same force applied with a dull knife.
Therefore having greater pressure for sharper knife and increasing its ability to cut.
6. Why is a force exerted by a static fluid on a surface always perpendicular to the surface?
Answer: Newton’s law states that, for every action there is an equal and opposite
reaction. The fluid resists the downward pull on it by the gravity, exerting upward force. That is
why the force exerted by fluid at static is always perpendicular to its surface.
7. Imagine that in a remote location near the North Pole, a chunk of ice floats in a lake. Next to the
lake, a glacier with the same volume as the floating ice sits on land. If both chunks of ice should melt
due to rising global temperatures, and the melted ice all goes into the lake, which one could cause the
level to the rise the most? Explain.
Answer: If the two chunks of ice had the same volume, they would produce the same
volume of water. The glacier would cause the greatest rise in the lake, however, because part of
the floating chunk of ice is already submerged in the lake, and is thus already contributing to
the lake’s level.
8. In ballet, dancing en pointe is much harder on the toes than normal dancing or walking. Explain
why, in terms of pressure.
Answer: The force applied when standing, dancing or walking en pointe is divided over
a smaller area than same force applied in normal position. Making it harder for our toes to
carry all the force than our feet.
9. Atmospheric pressure exerts a large force on the top of your body when you are lying on the beach
sunbathing. Why are you able to get up?
Kathleen A. Rafanan FLUID MECHANICS
BSED-SCIENCE I 2020.02.03
Answer: The pressure is acting all around your body, assuming you are not in a
vacuum.
10. Why does atmospheric pressure decreases more rapidly than linearly with altitude?
Answer: Atmospheric pressure decreases with increasing height. Since most of the
atmosphere’s molecules are held close to the Earth’s surface by the force of gravity, air pressure
decreases rapidly at first, then more slowly at higher levels. Atmospheric pressure decreases
roughly 50% within the lowest 5.5 km. Above 5.5 km, the pressure continues to decrease but an
increasingly slower rate.
11. The image shows how sandbags placed around a leaked outside a river levee can effectively stop
the flow of water under the levee. Explain how the small amount of water inside the column of
sandbags is able to balance the much larger body of water behind the levee.
Answer: Because the river level is very high, it has started to leak under the levee.
Sandbags are placed around the leak, and the water held by them rises until it is the same level
as the river, at which point the water there stops rising. The sandbags will absorb water until
the water reaches the height of the water in the levee.
12. Is there a net force on a damn due to atmospheric pressure? Explain your answer.
Answer: Atmospheric pressure is on both side of the dam, so this atmospheric pressure
cancels out. Therefore is no net force on dam due to atmospheric pressure.
13. Does atmospheric pressure add to the gas pressure in a rigid tank? In a toy balloon? When in
general, does atmospheric pressure not affect the total pressure in a fluid?
Answer: Atmospheric pressure does not affect the gas pressure in a rigid tank, but it
does affect the pressure inside the balloon. In general, atmospheric pressure affects fluid
pressure unless the fluid is enclosed in a rigid container.
14. You can break a strong wine bottle by pounding a cork into it with your fist, but the cork must
press directly against the liquid filling the bottle – there can be no air between the cork and liquid.
Explain why the bottle breaks only if there is no air between the cork and the liquid.
Answer: When the cork is pressed directly against the liquid in bottle and if pound on
the fork by fist, the force applied on cork and the pressure exerted on the bottom of bottle
works as hydraulic system. The first pressure along the pressure of fluid weight transfers to the
bottom. Due to which the bottom of bottle feels a higher pressure, and because of higher force
the bottom breaks.

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Kathleen A.

Rafanan FLUID MECHANICS

2. Why are gases easier to compare than liquids and solids?

3. Explain how the density of air varies with altitude.

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