Fluid Pressure
The term fluid pressure is coined as, the measurement of the force per unit area of a given surface of a closed container. It is a branch of physics that helps to study the properties of fluid under various conditions of force.
Gauge Pressure
Pressure is the physical force acting per unit area on a body; the applied force is perpendicular to the surface of the object per unit area. The air around us at sea level exerts a pressure (atmospheric pressure) of about 14.7 psi but this doesn’t seem to bother anyone as the bodily fluids are constantly pushing outwards with the same force but if one swims down into the ocean a few feet below the surface one can notice the difference, there is increased pressure on the eardrum, this is due to an increase in hydrostatic pressure.
Show that the total force on a rectangular dam due to the
water behind it increases with the square of the water depth.
In particular, show that this force is given by F = ρgh2L/ 2 ,
where ρ is the density of water, h is its depth at the dam,
and L is the length of the dam. You may assume the face of
the dam is vertical. (Hint: Calculate the average pressure
exerted and multiply this by the area in contact with the water.
(See Figure 11.42.)
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