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CHAPTER 7 Forces in Fluids

SECTION

1 Fluids and Pressure

BEFORE YOU READ
After you read this section, you should be able to answer
these questions:
• What are fluids?
• What is atmospheric pressure?
• What is water pressure?
• What causes fluids to flow?

What Are Fluids?

You have something in common with a dog, a sea gull, STUDY TIP
and a dolphin. You and all these other animals spend a Explain As you read this
lifetime moving through fluids. A fluid is any material section, study each figure.
In your notebook, describe
that can flow and that takes the shape of its container. what each figure tells you
Fluids have these properties because their particles can about pressure.
easily move past each other. Liquids and gases are fluids.
Fluids produce pressure. Pressure is the force exerted
on a given area. The motions of the particles in a fluid are READING CHECK
what produce pressure. For example, when you pump up 1. Identify What is a fluid?
a bicycle tire, you push air into the tire. Air is made up of
tiny particles that are always moving. When air particles
bump into the inside surface of the tire, the particles pro-
duce a force on the tire. The force exerted on the area of
the tire creates air pressure inside the tire.

The air particles inside the tire hit the

walls of the tire with a force. This force
produces a pressure inside the tire.
The pressure keeps the tire inflated.
TAKE A LOOK
2. Define What is pressure?

PRESSURE AND BUBBLES

Why are bubbles round? It’s because fluids (such as
the gas inside the bubbles) exert the same pressure in all
directions. This gives the bubbles their round shape.

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Interactive Textbook 111 Forces in Fluids
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SECTION 1 Fluids and Pressure continued

CALCULATING PRESSURE
Remember that pressure is a force exerted on an area.
You can use this equation to calculate pressure:
force
pressure  _____
area
The SI unit of force is the pascal. One pascal (Pa) is
equal to a force of one newton pushing on an area of one
square meter (1 N/m2). 1 Pa of pressure is very small. A
stack of 120 sheets of notebook paper exerts a pressure
of about 1 Pa on a table top. Therefore, scientists usually
give pressure in kilopascals (kPa). 1 kPa equals 1,000 Pa.
Let’s calculate a pressure. What is the pressure produced
by a book that has an area of 0.2 m2 and a weight of 10 N?
Math Focus Solve pressure problems using the following procedure:
force
3. Calculate What pressure Step 1: Write the equation. pressure  _____
area
is exerted by a crate with a
weight of 3,000 N on an area 10 N  50 ___
N  50 Pa
Step 2: Substitute and solve.  _____
of 2 m2? Show your work. 0.2 m2 m2

What Is Atmospheric Pressure?

The atmosphere is the layer of gases that surrounds
Earth. Gravity holds the atmosphere in place. The pull of
gravity gives air weight. The pressure caused by the weight
of the atmosphere is called atmospheric pressure.
Atmospheric pressure is exerted on everything on Earth,
including you. At sea level, the pressure is about 101,300
Pa (101.3 kPa). This means that every square centimeter of
your body has about 10 N (2 lbs) of force pushing on it.
Why doesn’t your body collapse under this pressure?
Like the air in a balloon, the fluids inside your body exert
pressure. This pressure inside your body acts against the
TAKE A LOOK atmospheric pressure.
4. Describe What would
be the length of the arrows Air pressure
if the balloon were inflated inside balloon
more? Explain your answer. The air inside the balloon
produces a pressure inside
the balloon. The pressure
inside the balloon
equals the atmospheric
Atmospheric pressure outside the
pressure balloon. Therefore, the
balloon stays inflated.

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Interactive Textbook 112 Forces in Fluids
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SECTION 1 Fluids and Pressure continued

PRESSURE, ALTITUDE, AND DEPTH

It is very difficult to climb Mount Everest. One reason
is that there is not very much air at the top of Mount
Everest. The atmospheric pressure on top of Mount
Everest is only about one-third of that at sea level. As you
climb higher, the pressure gets lower and lower. At the
top of the atmosphere, the pressure is almost 0 Pa. READING CHECK
5. Describe As altitude
Airplanes fly at about
increases, what happens to
12,000 m above sea level.
12,000 m above sea level atmospheric pressure?
Atmospheric pressure there
is about 20 kPa.

The top of Mount Everest is

about 9,000 m above sea
Increasing altitude

9,000 m above sea level

level. Atmospheric pressure
there is about 30 kPa.

La Paz, the capital of Bolivia,

is about 4,000 m above sea
4,000 m above sea level
level. Atmospheric pressure in
La Paz is about 51 kPa.
Math Focus
6. Calculate About what
fraction of atmospheric
pressure at sea level is
atmospheric pressure at
At sea level, atmospheric La Paz?
0 m above sea level
pressure is about 101 kPa.

Air pressure is greatest at Earth’s surface because the

entire weight of the atmosphere is pushing down there.
This is true for all fluids. As you get deeper in a fluid, the
pressure gets higher. You can think of being at sea level
as being “deep” in the atmosphere. READING CHECK
7. Explain Why is atmospheric
PRESSURE CHANGES AND YOUR BODY pressure greatest at the surface
What happens to your body when atmospheric pres- of Earth?
sure changes? You may have felt your ears “popping”
when you were in an airplane or in a car climbing a
mountain. Air chambers behind your ears help to keep
the pressure in your ears equal to air pressure. The “pop”
happens because the pressure inside your ears changes
as air pressure changes.
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SECTION 1 Fluids and Pressure continued

What Affects Water Pressure?

Water is a fluid. Therefore, it exerts a pressure. Like air
pressure, water pressure increases as depth increases, as
shown in the figure below. The pressure increases as the
diver gets deeper because more and more water is push-
ing on her. In addition, the atmosphere pushes down on the
water. Therefore, the total pressure on the diver is the sum
READING CHECK of the water pressure and the atmospheric pressure.
8. Explain Why does
pressure increase as depth
increases?

Say It
Discuss In a small group,
talk about the kinds of
adaptations that deep-water
organisms, such as the viper
fish, may have to help them
survive at very high water
pressures.

DENSITY EFFECTS ON WATER PRESSURE

Critical Thinking Density is a measure of how closely packed the par-
9. Infer What is the total ticles in a substance are. It is a ratio of the mass of an
pressure in kPA 10 m below object to its volume. Water is about 1,000 times denser
the water? Hint: the total
than air. Water has more mass (and weighs more) than
pressure is the sum of the
atmospheric pressure and the same volume of air. Therefore, water exerts more
the water pressure. pressure than air. The pressure exerted by 10 m of water
is 100 kPa. This is almost the same as the pressure
exerted by the whole atmosphere.
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SECTION 1 Fluids and Pressure continued

What Causes Fluids to Flow?

All fluids flow from areas of high pressure to areas of low
pressure. Imagine a straw in a glass of water. Before you suck
on the straw, the air pressure inside the straw is equal to the
air pressure on the water. When you suck on the straw, the air
pressure inside the straw decreases. However, the pressure Critical Thinking
on the water outside the straw stays the same. The pressure 10. Apply Concepts Why
difference forces water up the straw and into your mouth. does the air pressure inside
a straw go down when you
suck on the straw?
PRESSURE DIFFERENCE AND BREATHING
The flow of air from high pressure to low pressure
is also what allows you to breathe. In order to inhale, a
muscle in your chest moves down. This makes the vol-
ume of your chest bigger, so your lungs have more room
to expand. As your lungs expand, the pressure inside
them goes down. Atmospheric pressure is now higher
than the pressure inside your lungs, so air flows into your
lungs. The reverse of this process happens when you
exhale, as shown in the figure below.

As the volume of your

chest decreases, the
pressure in your lungs
increases. The pressure TAKE A LOOK
When you exhale, a in your lungs becomes 11. Explain Why does air
muscle in your chest greater than the flow out of your lungs when
moves upward. The pressure outside your you exhale?
volume of your chest lungs. Therefore, the
decreases. air flows out of your
lungs (higher pressure)
into the air (lower
pressure).

PRESSURE DIFFERENCES AND TORNADOES

During a tornado, wind speeds can reach 300 miles per
hour or more! Some of the damaging winds caused by a
tornado are due to pressure differences. The air pressure
inside a tornado is very low. Because the air pressure out-
side the tornado is high, the air rushes into the tornado
and produces strong winds. The winds cause the tornado
to act as a giant vacuum cleaner. Objects are pulled in
and lifted up by these winds.
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Section 1 Review
SECTION VOCABULARY
atmospheric pressure the pressure caused by pascal the SI unit of pressure (symbol, Pa)
the weight of the atmosphere pressure the amount of force exerted per unit
fluid a nonsolid state of matter in which the area of a surface
atoms or molecules are free to move past
each other, as in a gas or liquid

1. Describe How do fluids exert pressure on a container?

2. Evaluate Define density in terms of mass and volume. How does density affect
pressure?

3. Calculate The water in a glass has a weight of 2.5 N. The bottom of the glass has
an area of 0.012 m2. What is the pressure exerted by the water on the bottom of
the glass? Show your work.

4. Describe Fill in the blank spaces in the chart below to show how air moves in and
out of your lungs when you breathe.

A muscle in your chest Air pressure inside your

contracts. The volume chest is Air flows into
of your chest gets than atmospheric your lungs.
. pressure.

Air pressure inside your The muscle in your chest

Air flows out chest is relaxes. The volume
of your lungs. than atmospheric of your chest gets
pressure. .

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Interactive Textbook 116 Forces in Fluids