8.

3 Pressure in Fluids
Key ideas:
 Pressure is the amount of ____________ applied to a given ________.
 Pressure increases with ____________.
 Fluids will naturally move from an area of higher pressure to an area of ______ pressure.
 Gasses can be ___________ easily. Liquids are difficult to compress.

If you have ever shaken a bottle of pop and then opened it right away, you know what happens. The
pop bursts out of the bottle under pressure. _______________ is the amount of force applied to an
area. In the case of the pop bottle, pressure is created by the force within the pop being applied to the
inside of the bottle. Sometimes there is also a pressure action on a fluid from an outside source.

Changes in Pressure
On land, you are really walking around at the bottom of a sea of fluid – air. The atmosphere accounts
for as much as 160 km of air pushing down on you. But if you climb a mountain, or fly in a plane, the air
pressure changes. You will have passed from an area of ___________ pressure to an area of _________
pressure. Your body senses changes at higher altitudes because the air pressure is _________ there.

Pressure and Depth

Pressure within a fluid varies, depending on the depth of the fluid. The pressure near the bottom of a
fluid is always ____________ than the pressure near the top of the fluid. For example the pressure near
the bottom of a swimming pool is greater than near the surface. You feel more pressure when
swimming along the bottom of the pool than when swimming near the surface. This pressure is a result
of more water pushing down on you.

Painting the bottom of the pool... In these pools, where would you feel the least pressure? The most?

Pressure and Fluid Flow

A fluid flows from an area of higher pressure to an area of lower pressure.

This is what happens when you drink from a straw. (YOU don’t suck)
 Before drinking the pressure on the surface of the drink is the same
all over, including the little bit of surface on the straw.
 When you sip from a straw, you _____________ the pressure
inside the straw, allowing the higher pressure on the rest of the
surface to push the beverage ______ the straw and into your
mouth.
 The pressure of the atmosphere is pushing down on the fluid –
making it flow from an area of higher pressure to an area of lower
pressure.
Remember:  The pressure of the atmosphere (the weight of the ocean of
air above us:  14.7 pounds per square inch) pushes down on the surface of the drink, and the drink
moves from this region of high pressure into the low pressure region in our mouths.
How do we calculate pressure?
Force = mass x acceleration (gravity (g) towards earth)
Mathematically: g = 9.81 m/s/s or approximately 10 m/s/s

F Force is measured in Newtons

P=
A
Pressure is measured in Pascals with Pa
where: N
Pa= 2
P is the pressure, m
F is the force
A is the area of the surface area on contact

Fluids flow all around us, and some we are not even aware of. The following example involves a
fluid that flows because of a change in pressure.

Go to :

http://www.howstuffworks.com/vacuum-cleaner.htm

Summarize how a vacuum cleaner works.

A vacuum cleaner removes dust with help of a flowing fluid

Pressure and Temperature

When the temperature of a fluid increases, the particles move faster, striking the walls of the container
__________often and with more _____________. If the volume of the container does not change, the
increased temperature with result in _____________ pressure. For example, a helium balloon left in a
car on a hot day will expand until the balloon can’t expand any more. The pressure inside will continue
to increase and may cause the balloon to __________.

The opposite is also true. If the temperature of a fluid decreases and the volume remains constant, the
pressure will _____________. For example, a helium placed in a car in the winter will eventually
____________. The balloon may then lose its buoyancy.

Compression
A soccer ball filled with air is much easier to kick than one filled with water. Because air is a gas, there
are ____________ between the particles of air. It is because of these spaces that gasses have
___________________. Compressibility is the ability of t be compressed , or forced to have less volume.
By contrast, the particles in liquids are incompressible. Something
that is incompressible cannot be easily compressed.

If a force compresses the particle of a fluid, the volume of the fluid

is ______________. When the volume is reduced and the
temperature stays the same, the pressure inside the fluid
____________.
For example, every time a soccer ball is kicked the pressure inside
the ball increases.

Check out the animation below that shows a soccer ball being
compressed as it is being kicked.

When a soccer ball is kicked, the air inside compresses, increasing

the pressure within.

The opposite is also true. If the volume of a fluid increases and the
temperature remains the same, the pressure decreases.

In the tables below, highlight increasing or decreasing to indicate the change in volume or temperature
that will explain the change in fluid pressure.

Increasing Fluid Pressure

Increasing Decreasing Volume Increases Pressure
Increasing Decreasing Temperature Increases Pressure

Decreasing Fluid Pressure

Increasing Decreasing Volume Decreases Pressure
Increasing Decreasing Temperature Decreases Pressure

Questions:

1. Suppose a dam developed a hole from which the water started to leak out. Why would it be harder
to stop the leak if the hole was near the bottom of the dam as compared to near the top?

2. On a cold winter day, discover that the football you left outside is soft (has low pressure).
a. How could you increase the pressure inside the ball without adding more air.
b. Explain why you think your solution would work.

Multiple Guesses

1. Which of the following can be expressed using the unit of force?

a. Pressure and buoyancy
b. Pressure only
c. Pressure, density, buoyancy and viscosity
d. Pressure, density and buoyancy
2. Which statement about pressure is false?
a. Pressure is for fluids what density is for solids
b. Gases can be compressed much more easily than liquids
c. All fluids tend to move toward areas of less pressure
d. Pressure increases with depth

3. What is a reason why air exerts less pressure as you go up in altitude?

a. Heavier particles such as oxygen decrease
b. The air is colder and therefore less viscous
c. There are fewer layers of air above you
d. There is less friction between air particles

4. What eventually happens to all weather balloons as they rise through the atmosphere?
a. They deflate and fall back to the ground
b. They are ripped apart by the high altitude jet stream
c. They become taught and burst
d. They freeze solid and fall back to the ground

5. What causes the pressure of a compressed gas in an aerosol can?

a. Gas particles being forced to slow their movement down
b. Gas particles being trapped in a stationary arrangement
c. Gas particles sliding against one another
d. Gas particles colliding against the inside walls

6. Some very unusual creatures live in an extremely high-pressure

environment deep in our oceans.
The humpback anglerfish lives at a depth of 2000 m down. Researchers
would like to bring one to the surface to study it but most attempts to do
have failed. Why do you think that is?

a. They are adapted to very high pressure so when they reach the surface their tissues would
"explode"
b. They would not able to swim in warmer surface waters
c. The pressure at the surface would crush their delicate gill structure
d. The oxygen level would be too low near the surface of the ocean for them to breathe

7. Temperature affects pressure. What is not an example of this phenomenon?

a. can of beans in a campfire explodes
b. A dragster spins its thick tires on the asphalt and they begin to expand
c. A balloon left outside overnight is half-deflated by morning
d. A man uses a pressure washer to clean his patio

8. What is not a unit of pressure?

a. Meters per second squared
b. Newtons per meter squared
c. Pounds per square inch
d. Kilograms per centimeter squared

9. Which of the following would be most compressible?

a. A beach ball filled with water
b. A beach ball filled with sand
c. A beach ball filled with air
d. A beach ball filled with ice
10. A meteorologist on television states that a low-pressure weather system is in your area. This means
that air surrounding this system is
a. flowing away from it, creating wind.
b. rising over top of it.
c. rushing toward it, creating wind.
d. sinking underneath it.