Module 5: Fluids and Pressure

DEFINITION OF PRESSURE
 Fluids
- either a gas or a liquid
- a substance that continually deforms (flows) under an applied shear stress, no matter how
small.

 One of the most important properties of fluids is PRESSURE.

 Pressure
- defined as the FORCE APPLIED per UNIT AREA
- mathematically,
F
P=
A
which is valid for all phases of matter: solid, liquid or gas.
- the SI unit for pressure is the pascal (Pa) or newton per square meter:
N
1 Pa=1
m2

 Another unit for pressure is atmosphere (atm) where 1 atm is the atmospheric pressure or the
average pressure due to the weight of the atmosphere at sea level.
- Note that 1 atm = 1.013 x 105 N/m2.

QUESTION: What might be the reason why it seems so hard to get out of bed after a good night rest?
QUESTION: Why is it that when a nurse pokes you in the arm with a hypodermic needle, the needle
breaks your skin not like when a nurse pokes you in the arm with her finger?

 Consider a force applied at a given area which creates a certain amount of pressure. When the same
force applied to a smaller area, it creates a larger pressure and has a much different effect.
 Stationary fluids always exert forces perpendicular to surfaces regardless of the direction.

EXAMPLE: Calculate the force exerted by the atmosphere in one side of the wall of area 10 m 2. Why is it
that despite the large amount of force exerted by the atmosphere on the wall, the house doesn’t fall
apart?!

 The reason the force is always perpendicular to the surface is that fluids cannot withstand shearing
or sideways forces and therefore cannot exert sideways forces.
 The effect of atmospheric pressure often cancels or negligible and it is tiresome to always add
atmospheric pressure to other pressures involved in a phenomena to get the total pressure.

 Gauge pressure
- the pressure above or below atmospheric pressure
 Total pressure (absolute pressure)
- gauge pressure plus atmospheric pressure
- Pgauge + Patm

DEPENDENCE OF PRESSURE: What factors affect pressure?

  BOYLE’S LAW: Pressure is inversely proportional to the volume of the container.
- The number of collisions of molecules with the walls per unit time will be less because on
average, they have to go farther to find a wall.
- The walls have larger area, so by P=F/A, pressure is smaller.
1
P∝
V
 CHARLES’ LAW: Pressure is directly proportional to temperature.
- Molecules will travel faster so collisions, with the walls and with each other, will be more
frequent.
P ∝T

Some manifestations of the dependence of pressure to volume:

- The balloon expands as it goes up in the air where the pressure becomes lower and lower.
However, due to the plastic balloon’s elastic limit, at some point, the balloon will burst as it
continues to expand.
- Human respiration: The body changes pressure in the lungs by increasing or decreasing their
volume. This is the mechanism behind inhalation and exhalation.

PASCAL’S PRINCIPLE: The Physics Behind Hydraulic Systems

 Pascal’s discoveries about stationary fluid:
- They can be used to transmit pressures to a place other than where the pressure is created.
- The pressure is not diminished in transit.
 Pascal’s principle:
“Any pressure applied to a confined fluid will be transmitted to all parts of a fluid.”

 ACHTUNG! It is the applied pressure, not the force that is transmitted undiminished to all parts of a
fluid.
 Forces are transmitted in fluids but they may be made larger or smaller by the fluid depending on
circumstances.
 In most hydraulic systems, a small force is put into the system and causes a large force to emerge
from the other end of the system. Since the pressure will remain undiminished until it reaches the
other end,
F1 F 2
= .
A1 A2

EXAMPLE: The large piston supports a dentist’s chair, and the dentist wants to lift the patient by
stepping on a pedal directly on top of the small piston. Calculate the force the dentist must exert if the
patient plus chair have a mass of 120 kg and the small piston has a diameter of 1.0 cm, while the large
piston has a diameter of 5.0 cm.

PRESSURE DUE TO THE WEIGHT OF A FLUID

 The force of gravity causes pressure called the pressure due to the weight of the fluid.
 Pressure at a depth h is due to the weight of the column of fluid of density ρ above the area A and is
given by
P= ρgh
 Note that pressure due to the weight of a fluid depends only on the depth in the fluid and the
density of the fluid. The shape of the container is unimportant.
 If containers filled to different depths with the same fluid are connected together, the fluid flows
until the depths become equal.

EXAMPLE: Calculate the pressure in Newtons per square meter at a depth of 2.5 m due to water in a
swimming pool. What then is the total pressure at that depth?

Some Manifestations on the Dependence of Pressure on Depth and Density:

- IV fluids must be placed above where the needle is inserted. The pressure due the IV fluid at
the entrance of the needle is proportional to the height. The path taken, however, is
irrelevant.
- Considering an eyedropper, the height to which fluid rises in an eyedropper is related to the
pressure in the bulb. The lower the pressure in the bulb, the higher the fluid rises. Notice
also that the larger the density of the fluid, the more difficult it is to raise it.

SPHYGMOMANOMETER: The Physics behind Taking Ones Blood Pressure

 It uses a blood pressure cuff that squeezes the arm to constrict the blood flow in the artery. The
pressure in the cuff is slowly decreased. Eventually the pressure in the cuff is low enough that blood
starts flowing again in the constricted artery.
 The healthcare worker listening to the artery with a stethoscope hears turbulence as the blood flow
resumes, and reads the systolic blood pressure from the sphygmomanometer dial. When the
turbulence stops, the pressure reading is the diastolic reading. The blood again flows smoothly
because the pressure in the cuff is too low to constrict the blood flow during any part of the
pumping cycle.
 The systolic pressure, also called the maximum blood pressure is the amount of pressure one has to
exert to stop blood flow. The diastolic pressure, on the other hand, is the minimum pressure the
circulatory system experiences.
 Blood pressure is taken on the arm at the same level as the heart because the pressure in a fluid
varies with the height of the fluid.

BUOYANT FORCE AND ARCHIMEDES’ PRINCIPLE: Why one manages to stay afloat.
 Archimedes’ Principle:
“Any object placed in a fluid will experience an upward or buoyant force equal to the weight of
the fluid it displaces.”
- This principle applies both to liquids and gases and to objects which are completely or
partially submerged.

 Objects float because the upward force on the bottom of the object is larger than the downward
force in the top of the object. This net upward force, called buoyant force is equal to the weight of
the fluid displaced or
BF=wfl

 When the object floats, its weight is completely supported by the fluid
BF=wobj
Therefore,
w obj=wfl
 Note that the fraction of the object that is submerged is equal to the ratio of the density of the
object to the density of the fluid. That is,
ρobj V fl
= =fraction submerged
ρfl V obj
This is true for any object floating in any liquid.

FLOW: Poiseuille’s Law, Laminar Flow and Turbulent Flow

 The distinguishing characteristic of a fluid is that is flows. In many cases, flow is confined to tubes.
 Fluid flow is defined as the volume flowing per unit time
V
F=
t
 Pressure plays a major role in determining the flow rate. If the pressures are the same at either end
of the tube, there is no flow. If the pressure in the left end is greater than the pressure at the right
end, then the flow occurs from the left to the right end. Otherwise, the flow occurs from the right to
the left end. Thus, flow is a result of the difference of pressures
( P1−P2 )
F=
R
where R is the resistance of the fluid to flow.
 Resistance to flow is caused by friction between the fluid and the tube and the friction within the
fluid itself.
 Laminar flow is a smooth and quiet flow. Its relationship with resistance for an incompressible fluid
is given by Poiseuille’s Law:
8 ηL
R=
π r4
where η is the viscosity of the fluid, L is the length of the tube and r is its radius.
 Turbulent flow, on the other hand, has eddies, swirls and ripples. Resistance for turbulent flow is
larger compared to laminar flow. One often hears turbulent flow because of the sounds made by the
eddies.
 Turbulence can also be caused by large fluid speeds since above a certain critical speed, friction
between the fluid and the walls of the tube starts eddies.
 However, there are some fluids that have laminar flow first and a turbulent flow at a later time.

The Bernoulli Effect

 As a fluid passes through a pipe that narrows or widens, the velocity and pressure of the fluid vary.
As the pipe narrows, the fluid flows more quickly. Surprisingly, Bernoulli's Principle tells us that as
the fluid flows more quickly through the narrow sections, the pressure actually decreases rather
than increases!
 Bernoulli’s Principle:
“Where the speed of a fluid is high the pressure is low, and where the speed of a fluid is low the
pressure is high.”
 How the fluid change speed in going from a large radius to a small one or vice versa is given by the
relationship
A1 v́ 1= A 2 v́ 2
via fluid flow which can also be expressed as
F= A v́
where A is the cross-sectional area of the tube and v́ is the average velocity of the fluid.
 Entrainment
 - A process wherein one fluid is pulled into the flow of another due to pressure differences
(the pressure of the rapidly moving fluid is smaller than outside pressure)
 Most entrainment devices have a tube with constriction called the venturi which increases the
speed of the fluid and enhance its entrainment of another fluid.