Fluid Pressure Simulation
Learning Goals:
To understand how pressure varies with the fluid density
To understand how pressure varies with varying gravitational acceleration
Open the PHET simulation at https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/under-pressure/latest/under-pressure_en.html
Part 1.
Select the first setting with a single pool.
Empty the pool completely. Make sure that the units are in Metric. Do not touch the Fluid Density or Gravity values.
Using the Ruler or Grid feature, measure the height of the pool, .
Take the pressure gauge and place it at the top of the empty pool. Record the value of pressure,
Now take the pressure gauge and place it at the bottom of the pool. Fill the pool with water and record the pressure value.
Now, keeping the pressure gauge at the same location, start increasing the density of the fluid, in increments of 10 until you reach a density of . Fill in the table below with your values.
Using the data collected above, create a scatter plot of . You can do this in Excel and then copy and paste it here. (If you are unsure about this step, ask.)
Using the options of scatter plots in Excel, get a line of best fit to the plot. Obtain the equation for the line and include it in your graph.
Questions
What are the units of the slope?
What physical quantity does the slope represent?
How does the measured value compare with the expected value? Answer this question by calculating the percent error.
What are the units of the y-intercept?
What physical quantity does the y-intercept represent?
How does the measured value compare with the expected value? Answer this question by calculating the percent error.
Given the results of your experiment, what can you say about the relationship between fluid density and fluid pressure?
Part 2.
For this part repeat all the steps as above, except that instead of varying the density you are going to vary the value of the acceleration of gravity, in increments of 0.1 until you reach the value of .
Collect the table in a table like above, make a scatter plot and obtain the equation of the line of best fit.
Questions
What are the units of the slope?
What physical quantity does the slope represent?
How does the measured value compare with the expected value? Answer this question by calculating the percent error.
What are the units of the y-intercept?
What physical quantity does the y-intercept represent?
How does the measured value compare with the expected value? Answer this question by calculating the percent error.
Given the results of your experiment, what can you say about the relationship between fluid density and gravitational acceleration?
Additional Questions
Is the y-intercept of each graph the same? Should it be? Explain.
How would the experiment change if you were to perform me without atmosphere? Be quantitative in your answer; that is, which quantities would change in your plots?
If we did a third experiment in which we kept the fluid density and gravitational acceleration constants, but we varied the depth at which we measured the pressure, what would be the relationship between the Fluid pressure and the depth?
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