Buoyancy
A body immersed in water seems to weigh less than when it is in air. When the body is less dense than the fluid, it floats. The human body usually floats in water, and a helium-filled balloon floats in air. These are examples of buoyancy, a phenomenon described by Archimedes’s principle:
Archimedes’s principle:: When a body is completely or partially immersed in a fluid, the fluid exerts an upward force on the body equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the body.
To prove this principle, we consider an arbitrary element of fluid at rest. The dashed curve in Fig. 12.11a outlines such an element. The arrows labeled dF1 represent the forces exerted on the element’s surface by the surrounding fluid.
The entire fluid is in equilibrium, so the sum of all the y-components of force on this element of fluid is zero. Hence the sum of the y-components of the surface forces must be an upward force equal in magnitude to the weight mg of the fluid inside the surface. Also, the sum of the torques on the element of fluid must be zero, so the line of action of the resultant y-component of surface force must pass through the center of gravity of this element of fluid.
Now we replace the fluid inside the surface with a solid body having exactly the same shape (Fig. 12.11b). The pressure at every point is the same as before. So the total upward force exerted on the body by the fluid is also the same, again equal in magnitude to the weight mg of the fluid displaced to make way for the body. We call this upward force the buoyant force on the solid body. The line of action of the buoyant force again passes through the center of gravity of the displaced fluid (which doesn’t necessarily coincide with the center of gravity of the body).
When a balloon floats in equilibrium in air, its weight (including the gas inside it) must be the same as the weight of the air displaced by the balloon. A fish’s flesh is denser than water, yet many fish can float while submerged. These fish have a gas-filled cavity within their bodies, which makes the fish’s average density the same as water’s. So the net weight of the fish is the same as the weight of the water it displaces. A body whose average density is less than that of a liquid can float partially submerged at the free upper surface of the liquid. A ship made of steel (which is much denser than water) can float because the ship is hollow, with air occupying much of its interior volume, so its average density is less than that of water. The greater the density of the liquid, the less of the body is submerged. When you swim in seawater (density 1030 kg/m3 ), your body floats higher than in freshwater (1000 kg/m3 )
A practical example of buoyancy is the hydrometer, used to measure the density of liquids (Fig. 12.12a). The calibrated float sinks into the fluid until the weight of the fluid it displaces is exactly equal to its own weight. The hydrometer floats higher in denser liquids than in less dense liquids, and a scale in the top stem permits direct density readings. Hydrometers like this are used in medical diagnosis to measure the density of urine (which depends on a patient’s level of hydration). Figure 12.12b shows a type of hydrometer used to measure the density of battery acid or antifreeze. The bottom of the large tube is immersed in the liquid; the bulb is squeezed to expel air and is then released, like a giant medicine dropper. The liquid rises into the outer tube, and the hydrometer floats in this liquid.
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