Introduction: Fluid Statics
The forces associated with fluids play a large role in many natural or manufactured systems. Have you ever wondered how a water strider glide across a lake? Or have you ever been curious how an iceberg floats on water? The forces at play here aren’t always so obvious, but they shape how objects interact with liquids all around us. A water strider can stand on the surface of water due to surface tension, while an iceberg can float due to the buoyant force. In this lab, you will be exploring these fluid forces further.
In Exercise 1, you will learn about surface tension and qualitatively observe its effects in two different contexts.
In Exercise 2, you will draw the free body diagram of an object floating in water. By doing so, you will determine how the forces balance which you will use later in Exercise 3.
In Exercise 3, you will apply Archimedes’ principle and your free body diagram from Exercise 2 to determine the density of a floating object.
Learning Objectives
Set yourself the following learning outcomes:
By the end of this lab, I will
- Use dimensional analysis as a tool to determine if an equation is dimensionally correct.
- Explain surface tension, capillary rise, and contact angles.
- Apply buoyancy to draw the balanced forces for a free body diagram of a floating object.
- Find the density of a floating object using Archimedes’ principle.
But before you get to the exercises, it’s important to get warmed up!
