Experiment 2a: Measuring forces on submerged surfaces

Purposes
Goal: Measure and determine the magnitude of resultant forces and location of the resultant force on a
vertically submerged surface in static fluid, and compare to theory.
Pressure and forces on a submerged surface
Figure 1: Experiment setup to measure forces on submerged surfaces (experiment 2a).
The apparatus on the first experiment consist of a water tank with a quadrant and beam attached on the
top. The measurements needed to complete your analysis is shown in Figure 1 above.
Procedure:
1. Place the apparatus is on a flat surface close to the sink and check the level.
2. Hang the empty weight tray on the left.
3. Adjust the counter weight attached to the apparatus on the right until the beam is balanced.
4. Fill the reservoir with water until the flat surface partially submerged. As water is added into the
reservoir, the beam will be off-balanced.
5. Measure and record the temperature of water.
6. Hang the appropriate mass on the empty weight tray until the beam is once again leveled.
7. Record the water level and the mass used to equalize the beam.
8. You now have one data point. Repeat the experiment to obtain at least 3 data point by increasing
the depth of water. (flat surface partially submerged, completely submerged, and more than
completely submerged)
9. Analyze the data.
Analysis
1. Illustrations of the pressure distribution, including centroids and centers of pressure, for the three
configurations tested (flat surface partially submerged, completely submerged, and more than
completely submerged)
2. Determine theoretical and calculated resultant force for each data and compare the theoretical
force with the measured force.
3. The measured force is obtained by setting the summation of moments about the pivot point
equals to zero. However, the calculation involved the assumption that the center of pressure can
be calculated from the equation provided below.
= +
4. Also confirm that if depth is less than 100mm (flat surface partially submerged), the center of
pressure is located h/3 from the bottom of the quadrant (h=depth of water).
5. Explain why the center of pressure is NOT located at a distance h/3 from the bottom of the
quadrant for depths greater than 100mm.
6. The theoretical force is calculated from the averaged hydrostatic pressure multiplied by the
submerged surface area (F = pavg x A = hc x A).
7. Discuss if your observation of the resultant hydrostatic force agrees with the pressure prism, both
in terms of magnitude and location.
Data Sheet:
Water Temperature(
o
C):
Group Depth (mm) Mass (grams)
Experiment 2b: buoyant force on a fully submerged object
Purposes
Goal: Measure buoyant force on an object and confirm the validity of the measurement with theory.
Procedure:
Archimedes principle Buoyant force on fully submerged object
1. Nearly fill the graduated cylinder with water.
2. Measure the temperature of water.
3. Hang the object on the spring scale and record the dry weight of the object.
4. Record the exact amount of water in the graduated cylinder.
5. Submerge the object without touching the sides of the cylinder. Measure the difference in weight
to determine the buoyant force. Also record the water level in the graduated cylinder after the
object is submersed.
6. Submerge the object deeper in the liquid and record the weight on the spring scale. Also record
the water level in the graduated cylinder after the object is submersed.
7. Analyze the data.
Analysis
1. When the object is submerged, the fluid exerts pressure on the surface of the object, equivalent to
having a force acting vertically up to displace the object. Find the measured buoyant force of
water on the object.
2. Calculate and compare the theoretical buoyant force to the measured buoyant force. Calculation
of the theoretical force requires volume of the object. One way to obtain the volume is through
the use of your knowledge in Fluid Mechanics. Due to water being an incompressible fluid, the
volume of the object can be estimated based on the amount of liquid it displaces. Therefore,
volume increase in the graduated cylinder after the object is submerged is equals to the volume of
the object.
3. Report the error of the measured buoyant force.
4. Does the buoyant force changes with submergence depth of the object? Discuss why?
5. Also discuss if the magnitude of buoyant force will be any different if the object is made of
diamond (with the same volume and shape) and is also fully submersed.
6. Will the shape (assume same density and volume) of the object affect the magnitude of buoyant
force for a fully submersed object? Discuss why.
Data Sheet:
Water Temperature(
o
C):
Dry weight (N) Submerged weight (N) Initial vol (ml) Final vol (ml)