Next: Fluids
Up: Fluids
Previous: Fluids
  Contents
- Fluids are states of matter characterized by a lack of long
range order. They are characterized by their density and
their compressibility. Liquids such as water are (typically)
relatively incompressible; gases can be significantly compressed.
Fluids have other characteristics, for example viscosity (how ``sticky''
the fluid is). We will ignore these in this course.
- Pressure
is the force per unit area exerted by a fluid on its surroundings:
|
(207) |
Its SI units are pascals where 1 pascal = 1 newton/meter squared.
Pressure is also measured in ``atmospheres'' (the pressure of air at or
near sea level) where 1 atmosphere pascals. The pressure
in an incompressible fluid varies with depth according to:
|
(208) |
where is the pressure at the top and is the depth.
- Pascal's Principle
Pressure applied to a fluid is transmitted undiminished to all points of
the fluid.
- Conservation of Flow
We will study only steady/laminar flow in the absence of turbulence and
viscosity.
|
(209) |
- Bernoulli's Equation
|
(210) |
- Toricelli's Rule: If a fluid is flowing through a very small
hole (for example at the bottom of a large tank) then the velocity of
the fluid at the large end can be neglected in Bernoulli's Equation.
- Archimedes' Principle
The buoyant force on an object
|
(211) |
where frequency is the volume of fluid displaced by an
object.
- Venturi Effect
The pressure in a fluid increases as the velocity of the fluid
decreases. This is responsible for e.g. the lift of an airplane
wing.
Next: Fluids
Up: Fluids
Previous: Fluids
  Contents
Robert G. Brown
2004-04-12