Topic: Applications of the integral

in Physics
Work, Hydrostatic Force, Center of
Mass
Goals

At the end of this section, you’ll be able to

 Use integral to find the work done by a variable force
 Use integral to find the work needed in pumping water
 Use integral to find the fluid force against a flat surface
submerged vertically in a fluid
 Use integral to find the center of mass or centroid of a
plane region.
Contents

 Work
 Work done by a variable force
 Work done in pumping water
 Liquid force
 Liquid force against a flat plate submerged vertically
 Liquid force against a damn gate
 Center of mass, centroid
Modeling Work
Work done by a constant force

If a body moves a distance d in the direction of an applied constant

force F , the work W done is W  Fd .

For example, the work done in lifting a 90 lb bag of concrete 3 ft is

W  Fd  (90 lb)(3 ft)  270 ft-lb.
What if the force varies?

But what if the force becomes stronger (or weaker) as the

object moves?
Work done by a variable force
Suppose the force F on a particle is variable, i.e. F  F ( x).
How much work is done to move it along the x-axis from x = a to x = b?
xk
a b
xk 1 xk
Break up the motion into little sections.
and hope that during each section, the force is roughly constant,
i.e. F  F ( xk* ). So the work in the k th section is Wk  F ( xk* )xk .
n
The total work is W   F ( xk* )xk .
k 1

This method becomes more accurate the smaller the sections

b
are made. In other words, we need to integrate W   F ( x)dx.
a
Example : An object located x ft from a fixed starting position
is moved along a straight road by a force of F(x)=3x 2  5 lb.
What work is done by the force to move the object from 1 ft to 4 ft?
Solution
The force is variable, so we need to integrate.
b 4
W   F ( x)dx    3x  5  dx   x  5 x   78
2 3 4

1
a 1

The work done by the force to move the object from 1 ft to 4 ft is

78 ft-lb.
DIY : You are inspecting an airplane engine when someone turn it on!
The propeller sucks you toward it with force
6 m
F ( x)  300 N  
 x 
How much work must you do to retreat from x  6 m to a safe distance
of x  100 m?
A: 5000 J B: 20000 J

http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/phys311.old/lectures/spring/spring.html
Spring forces

Springs are important for two reasons:

 The force they exert depends on the amount by which
they are stretched.
 Springs behave just like lots of other objects
 Atoms in crystals
 Pendula
 Ball rolling in a bowl
Restoring force of a spring
If a spring is compressed (or stretched) it stores energy
equal to the work performed to compress (or stretch it).
Hooke's law: The RESTORING FORCE F of a spring increases
linearly with DISPLACEMENT x, i.e. F ( x)  kx.

k is the "spring constant". It depends on the spring's material, shape,

F N
and size. It must have units k   . Big k: stiff, small k: loose, weak.
x m
 Work done by a spring
Example : Suppose a spring has constant k  500 N/m. It is currently
at rest. You want to stretch it by 2m. How much work must you do?
Solution
b b 2
W   F ( x)dx    kx  dx    500 x  dx   250 x   1000 J.
2 2

0
a a 0
DIY : Bob (m  80 kg) steps off tower. Gravity does work on him
as he falls onto spring of k  6660 N/m. What is lowest height of
spring platform?
A. 1.2 m B. 1.4 m C. 1.6 m D. 1.8 m
DIY : A car (m  1200 kg) slides helplessly on frictionless ice
at speed 20 km/h. Fortunately, it runs into a spring, which
brings the car (momentarily) to rest by compressing the spring
of k  166660 N/m. What is shortest length of the spring?
A. 1.2 m B. 1.3 m C. 1.4 m D. 1.5 m

3m

?
Modeling work in pumping
water out of a tank
The problem: Find the work done in pumping water out of a tank.
Challenge: Different parts of water travel different distances!
Our strategy:
Step 1: Set up axes

Step 2: Think of the water in the tank as a collection of

"thin slabs" of water piled on top of each other. We shall
find the work done to move a slab to the desired position.

Step 3: Find the total work by using integration.

Example: An aquarium measures 1ft. x 2ft. x 3ft is full of water.
Find the work done in pumping all the water out trough the top
of the tank. Given: Water weighs 62.4 lb/ft 3 .
2
Solution
0 1 Let x = distance to top
= distance we have to move the water

x The work done in raising 1 slab of water is

x W    g V  x  (62.4  x 1 2) x

So the total work is

3
3
3
 x 
2

0 124.8x  dx  124.8 2   561.6 ft-lb.

0
 Example: An cylindrical tank of 10 ft high with radius 6 ft is full
of water. Find the work done in pumping all the water out trough
the bottom of the tank. Given: Water weighs 62.4 lb/ft 3 .
Solution
0 Let x = distance to top
= distance we have to move the water
x x
The work done in raising 1 slab of water is
W    g V  (10  x)  (62.4  x    62 )(10  x)

So the total work is

10 10
10
  x 2

0 2246.4 (10  x)dx  2246.4 10 x  2 
0
 352864 ft-lb.
DIY : Cylindrical tank 10 ft high with radius 6 ft.
The tank is half full and water is pumped through a 7 ft pipe
out the top. Find the work done.

-7

x x

10
Modeling fluid force
 Fluid force on a surface
submerged horizontally
The fluid force on a flat surface submerged HORIZONTALLY
in the fluid is
F   ghA
where
 g is the weight density h
h is the depth of the surface A
A is the area of the surface


This force is equal exactly to the weight of the fluid lies on the surface.
What if the surface is submerged
vertically?
The problem: Find the force against a flat surface submerged
VERTICALLY in a fluid.
Challenge: Different parts of the surface are at different depths!
Our strategy:
Step 1: Set up axes

Step 2: Divide the plate into thin "slabs" along

its depth. We can think that all points on one slab
are at the same depth. The force against one slab is
F   ghA   gh  L(h)h .
b
Step 3: Find the total force by using integration F    ghL(h) dh.
a
Example: A gate on a dam is a 4 x 8 ft rectangle.
Find the force on the gate if the top is 2 ft under the water.
Given: water density is 62.4 lb/ft 3 . 0
8
Solution 2

h h
Let h = depth
6
The force against one slab is
F   ghA   62.4  h  8  h

The total force is

6
6
 h  2
F   499.2h dh   499.2   7987.2
2  2 2
Example: A dam is an isosceles triangle 6 ft wide, 5 ft high.
Find the force on the gate if the top is 2 ft under the water.
Solution
Let h = depth
h The force against one slab is
F   ghA   62.4  hwh

The width w can be found by using similar triangles:

w 7h 6
  w  7  h
6 5 5
The total force is
7
7
6    h h 
2 3
F   62.4h   7  h   dh  74.88  7     3432
2 5    2 3  2
DIY : A semicircle with radius 5 ft is submerged level
with top of water. Find the fluid force against the semicircle.
Hint: A circle with radius r has equation x 2  y 2  r 2 .

Answer : 5200
Modeling the center of mass
of a plane region
What is the center of mass?
It has something to do with the Gravitational Potential Energy (GPE).
• For a tiny object: • How about extended objects?

Little golf ball: m=0.05 kg, h=1 m Bob: m=60 kg, height=2 m
GPE = mgh = 0.49 J GPE = ?
• Complex or extended objects can be treated as the superposition of a
number of simple pieces:

• The GPE of complex or extended objects can be considered to concentrate

at one point, which is called the CENTER OF MASS of that object.
Center of mass-Discrete case
Suppose an object is composed of n small,
m2
compact units with mass m1 , m2 , , mn m3

at positions  x1 , y1  ,  x2 , y2  , ,  xn , yn  .  x3 , y3   x2 , y2 
Its total mass is m  m1  m2  mn . m1
Its total GPE in x-direction is m1 x1  m2 x2  mn x n
 x1 , y1 
and in y-direction is m1 y1  m2 y2  mn yn .
So, the center of mass can be calculated by
x1m1  x2 m2  xn mn  xi mi
x 
m1  m2  mn  mi
y1m1  y2 m2  yn mn  yi mi
y 
m1  m2  mn  mi
Example: A steel ball and a plastic ball are connected by a very thin rod
of negligible mass. They form a single object of m=5.8 kg.
What is the center of mass of this object?
Steel ball Solution
m=5 kg
 
Plastic ball
m=0.8 kg The center of mass is at x, y where

x
 5 kg  (1 m)  (0.8 kg)(1m)  0.72 m
5 kg  0.8 kg

y
 5 kg  (9 m)  (0.8 kg)(7 m)
 8.72 m
-1 m 1m 5 kg  0.8 kg

The center of mass of this object is much closer to the steel ball than the plastic ball.
Of course ! Because the stell ball has much more mass.
DIY : Given 3 small objects in the picture below, with masses
A = 5 kg, B = 2 kg, C = 4 kg, what is the location of their
center of mass?

Answer :  2.64,1.64 
Center of mass-Continuous case
But what if we need to find the center of mass of a more complicated
object - one which has a continuous distribution of material?
This means that using a sum to calculate the center of mass

x
 xm i i
won't work. Instead, we must integrate over the body:
m i

x
 x dm  x dm
 , y
 y dm  y dm

 dm M  dm M
One can prove (in Calculus 3) that if the object is a plane region
between y  f ( x) and y  g ( x) on [a,b], and if the density  is constant, then

 
b b
1
  x  f ( x)  g ( x)  dx   f ( x)   g ( x) dx
2 2

2 a
x a
, y
b b  x, y 
   f ( x)  g ( x)  dx    f ( x)  g ( x)  dx
a a

In this case, the center of mass is also called the CENTROID.

Example: A thin flat plate R has constant density   1 and is bounded
by the parabola y  x 2 and the line y  x. Find the mass and the centroid of R.
Solution
The mass of the plate is
1
b 1
x x  2 3
m     f ( x)  g ( x)  dx  1   x  x 2  dx     
1
a 0  2 3 0 6
The centroid is calculated by
1
b 1
 3 4

  x  f ( x)  g ( x)  dx  x  x  x  dx   
2 x x
1
 3 4  1
x  ab 0  0
 12 
1 1 1 2
   f ( x)  g ( x)  dx 6 6 6
a 1

 f ( x)   g ( x)  dx 1 x x 
b 1 3 5
1

2 a
2 2 1
20  x 2
 x 4
 dx   
2  3 5  0 115 2
y b
   
1 1 1 5
   f ( x)  g ( x)  dx 6 6 6
a

The mass is 1
6 mass units and the centroid is at  12 , 52  .
DIY : A thin flat plate R has constant density   2 and is bounded
by the parabola y  x , the x  axis and the line x  4.
Find the mass and the centroid of R.

 12 3 
Answer: mass = 32 ; centroid=  , 
3  5 4
Summary

Now you’re able to:

 Use integral to find the work done by a variable force
along a line
 Use integral to find the work needed in pumping water
 Use integral to find the fluid force against a flat surface
submerged vertically in a fluid
 Use integral to find the center of mass or the centroid of
a plane region.
Questions?