Professional Documents
Culture Documents
PHYSICS
Pressure
Instrument
Mr Rishi Gopie
Mr
R
Gopie
PHYSICS
Pressure
Instruments
A
barometer
is
an
instrument
or
device
for
measuring
atmospheric
pressure.
Examples
of
barometers
include:
the
simple
mercury
barometer,
the
fortin
barometer,
the
aneroid
barometer,
the
Bourdon
gauge.
Consider
the
simple
Mercury
barometer
Diag.
41
Atmospheric
Pressure,
AP
=
pressure
due
to
a
uniform
column
of
liquid
of
vertical
height
(i.e.
the
barometric
height),
h.
(Once h is in m, ρ is in kgm-‐3 and g is 10ms-‐1 or 10 Nkg-‐1).
A manometer is an instrument or device for measuring gas pressure:
Diag.
42
Absolute pressure of gas = gauge pressure or excess pressure + A.P
= Pressure due to a uniform column of liquid of vertical height, h + A.P
[Once h is in m, ρ is in kgm-‐3, g is 10ms-‐2 or 10 Nkg-‐1 and A.P is in Nm-‐2 or Pa]
NB 1 bar = 105Pa
This
states
when
a
body
is
totally
or
partially
immersed
in
a
fluid
it
experiences
an
upthrust
(i.e.
an
upward
force)
that
is
equal
in
magnitude
to
the
weight
of
the
fluid
displaced
by
the
body.
A
special
case
of
this
principle
is
the
principle
(or
law)
of
floatation
and
this
states
that
a
floating
body
displaces
its
own
weight
of
fluid.
Since
upthrust
=
weight
of
fluid
displaced
(in
accordance
with
Archimedes
principle)
and
for
the
body
to
float
in
equilibrium
upthrust
=
weight
of
body
than
weight
of
fluid
displaced
=weight
of
body.
Therefore
a
body
floats
in
a
fluid
whenever
it
has
displaced
its
own
weight
of
that
fluid
–
if
it
is
does
not
do
this
before
it
is
completely
immersed
(i.e.
submerged)
in
the
fluid
then
it
will
sink
in
the
fluid.
A
completely
immersed
body
displaced
it
own
volume
of
fluid
in
which
it
is
immersed
and
this
fact
can
be
used
to
determine
the
volume
of
a
body,
(particularly
that
of
an
irregularly-‐
shaped
body)
by
measuring
the
volume
of
the
fluid
that
it
displaces
when
submerged.
These
ideas
apply
to
rafts,
balloons,
submarines
etc.
in
terms
of
density
,
it
can
be
concluded
that
if
the
average
or
effective
density
of
a
body
A
is
greater
than
that
of
a
fluid
B
then
A
will
sink
in
B;
but
if
the
average
density
of
A
is
less
than
that
of
B
then
A
will
float
in
B.
Page
7
of
14
Mr
R
Gopie
PHYSICS
June
2001
paper
3
#3