I. E. S.

Gabriela Mistral, Arroyomolinos Physics & Chemistry, 4th ESO Leyre González
Unit 3: Force and Pressure in fluids
Pressure

Force is measured in N. Surface is measured in m2. Therefore P is measured in N/m2, which is

called Pascal (Pa).
Other units of pressure:
1atm=760 mmHg=1013 mbar=101300 Pa

In the first picture the man sinks in the snow because the surface he is standing on, his feet, are
small, therefore the pressure he makes upon the snow is big. In the second picture people don´t sink
because they have skiis so the surface they are standing on is bigger, therefore the pressure is
smaller.

1. a) A man of 90 kg of mass is standing on snow. If the surface where he is standing is 625 cm2,
what is the pressure he makes on the snow?
b) What would be the pressure if he was standing on two skis of 2.05 m long and 0.15 m width?

2. A hypodermic needle, whose section is 0.01 mm2, is injected into the skin with a force of 40 N.
What is the pressure made upon the skin? Express the result in Pa and in atm.

3. To drill a nail, whose section is 1 mm2, into the wall, you have to make 35000 Pa of pressure.
Calculate the force you have to make with the hammer upon the nail.

4. A bus of 10000 kg of mass makes 1600 kPa of pressure upon the ground. Calculate the value of
the surface the bus is standing on.

5. Calculate the pressure a metallic box of 500 g of mass makes upon the floor when it is standing
on each of its sides, if its dimensions are 5 cm x 3 cm x 2 cm.
Hydrostatic pressure
Hydrostatic pressure is the pressure at some point within a liquid. If an object is submerged, it
suffers pressure.

P is the pressure measured in Pa; d is the density of the liquid, measured in kg/m3; g is the
acceleration of gravity, measured in m/s2; h is the depth of the submerged object, measured in m.

Due to the fact that hydrostatic pressure only depends on the density of the liquid and the depth, we
have the hydrostatic paradox:

The level of water in each chamber is the same because the pressure at the bottom is the same.
How is water distributed in cities?
Water is stored in a high water tower and the fluid reaches to the same level in every house.

6. Calculate the pressure a submarine navigating at 200 m depth suffers, if the density of the sea
water is 1030 kg/m3.

7. Why do you think the wall of a dam is thicker at the bottom than at the top?
Pascal´s law
Pressure exerted anywhere in a confined incompressible fluid is transmitted equally in all directions
throughout the fluid so that the pressure remains the same through all the fluid.

Hydraulic press

8. On an hydraulic press the big piston has a surface of 8.93 m2 and the small one has a surface of
1000 cm2. What is the force you have to apply on the small piston to lift a car of 1700 kg of mass
which is located on the big piston?

9. A pipe is made up of two cylindrical tubes which are joined. The first tube has a radius of 5 cm
and the second one has a radius of 25 cm. To unblock it, the plumber has made a force of 168 N on
the side of the big tube. What force would he have to make if he had applied the force on the small
tube?

10. A hydraulic press has two pistons, one with a surface of 10 cm2 and the other with a surface of
900 cm2. If you apply upon the small piston a force of 1.5 N, what is the force applied on the big
one?

11. The radius of the small piston (it has the shape of a circumference) of a hydraulic press is 20 cm.
If we apply upon it a force of 12 N, the other piston makes a force of 300 N. Calculate the radius of
the second piston (it also has the shape of a circumference).

12. The big piston of a hydraulic press makes a force of 5600 N when a force of 15 N is applied
upon the small piston. Calculate the relationship between the radius of both pistons (they both have
the shape of a circumference).
Archimedes principle
You probably have noticed that objects weigh less when they are submerged in a liquid. This is
because the liquid makes a force that is directed upward.
Archimedes' principle indicates that the upward buoyant force that is exerted on a body immersed in
a fluid, whether fully or partially submerged, is equal to the weight of the fluid that the body
displaces.
T=dL·V·g
where T is the thrust (empuje) expressed in N, dL is the density of the liquid expressed in kg/m3, V is
the volume of the displaced liquid expressed in m3 and g is the acceleration of gravity expressed in
m/s2.
Notice that dL·V is equal to the mass (mL) of the liquid that has been displaced, and mL·g is equal to
the weigh of the displaced liquid.
The apparent weight of an object that is submerged is:
W´=W-T
Buoyancy (flotabilidad)
 If the weight of the object is smaller than the thrust, the object floats.
W<T
d·V·g<dL·V·g
d<dL
 If the weight is equal to the thrust, the object is in equilibrium.
W=T
d·V·g=dL·V·g
d=dL
 If the weight of the object is bigger than the thrust, the object sinks.
W>T
d·V·g>dL·V·g
d>dL

13. An object of iron (d=7960 kg/m3), with a cubic shape and an edge (arista) of 0.2 m, is
completely submerged in water (dL=1000 kg/m3). Calculate:
a) The thrust.
b) The apparent weight of the object.

14. A body with spherical shape and radius of 11 cm is hung on a dynamometer. Its weight is 60 N.
Then, we submerge the body completely in water. Knowing that the density of water is 1000 kg/m3,
what is the weight the dynamometer will show now?

15. An object is completely submerged in water, whose density is 1000 kg/m3. This object has a
volume of 4 dm3 and a density of 47000 kg/m3. Calculate:
a) Its real weight.
b) The thrust.
c) Its apparent weight.

16. An object whose real weight is 250 N is submerged in a liquid, and in this liquid its apparent
weight is 100 N. Knowing that the density of the object is 6700 kg/m3, calculate the volume of the
object and the density of the liquid.

17. An object with a volume of 200 cm3 and 30 N of weight, weighs 20 N when it is introduced into
a liquid. Calculate the density of the liquid and the density of the object.

18. Say if an object whose weight is 500 N and whose volume is 80 dm3 will sink in water
(dwater=1000 kg/m3).