Chapter 7

Fluids and Pressure

All fluids exert pressure

Fluid is a gas or a liquid Pressure = amount of force exerted on a
given area Fluids exert pressure evenly in every direction.
Bubbles are round

Pressure = Force / Area Pascal = SI unit for pressure Pascal (Pa) = 1N / m2

Sample Problems
Find the pressure exerted by a 3,000 N
crate with an area of 2m.

Find the weight of a rock with an area of

10m that exerts a pressure of 250 Pa.

Atmospheric Pressure
Pressure caused by the weight of the
atmosphere due to gravity. Equivalent to 10 N (1 kg) per square centimeter. Decreases with increase in altitude

Less air molecules pressing down on you Ex: Top of Mt. Everest = 33 kPa Philadelphia, Pa (sea level) = 101 kPa

Water Pressure
Also increases with depth due to gravity Does not depend on the amount of fluid, only the
depth.
Ex: You would experience more pressure if you were 10 ft deep in a swimming pool than if you were 5 ft deep in the ocean. Horizontal pressure gets canceled out.

Water exerts more pressure that air because it is

more dense.
More atoms per volume = more weight = more pressure

Equilibrium
Pressure flows from areas of high pressure
to areas of low pressure until the pressures become equal.

Ideal Gas Law

Boyles Law: In a closed system, at a
constant temperature, the volume of a gas increases as its pressure decreases. Charles Law: In a closed system, at a constant pressure, the volume of a gas increases as its temperature increases

Ideal Gas Law (Cont)

Kinetic Molecular Theory
Pressure vs Temperature Pressure vs Volume (Boyles Law)

Cups on the Balloon

Before the balloon was blown up, some of
the balloon occupied some of the space in the cups. As the balloon was blown up, the amount of space in the cups that was taken up by the balloon decreased and the amount of space taken up by air was increased.

Cups on Balloon Continued

Since there was an increase in volume of
air, but not in the amount of air, the air thinned out. (Boyles Law) This caused the pressure on the inside of the cups to be less than the outside of the cups. The greater pressure outside of the cups pushed the cups onto the balloon.

Balloon in a Flask
As water became steam, the increase in
temp. increased the volume of the water molecules, thus blowing up the balloon. (Charles Law) However, as the steam cooled, the water molecules condensed into water droplets, which caused the existing air molecules to expand.

Balloon in a Flask (Cont)

According to Boyles Law, the expansion of
the air molecules decreased the pressure inside of the balloon and flask. Since air pressure on the inside of the flask became less than the outside, the balloon was pushed in. Other similar demos Can Crusher - The Fountain

Expanding Marshmallow
When all of the air was vacuumed out of the bell

jar, pressure in the jar was very low. This caused the air pressure inside of the marshmallow to be greater than the pressure in the jar. (Equilibrium - High to Low) The sudden absence of air molecules caused the remaining air molecules trapped inside the marshmallow to expand, thus increasing in volume. (Boyles Law)

Pascals Principle
A change in pressure at any point in an
enclosed fluid will be transmitted equally to all parts of that fluid. Blaise Pascal, the 17th century scientist discovered this phenomena. Hydraulic devices that use liquids to transmit pressure from one place to another.
Ex: Brakes on a car pressure from your foot on the brake pedal is transmitted by the brake fluid to the brake pads which stops the car.

Bernoulli Principle