Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Pressure and Thermometers

MEC2022s Thermodynamics

Name: Mlamui Jama_____________________________

Student Number: JMXMLA001____________________
Signature: _____________________________________

Date: 20 August 2015______

Contents
1

Introduction........................................................................................................................................3

Aim.....................................................................................................................................................3

Experimental Procedure.....................................................................................................................4
3.1

Apparatus.....................................................................................................................................4

3.2

Method.........................................................................................................................................4

Results................................................................................................................................................5

Discussion..........................................................................................................................................5

Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................6

References..................................................................................................................................................6
6.1

Remember to staple your signed lab attendance slip to front page of your report. Inclined

Manometers.......................................................................................................................................7

1 Introduction
I.

Part one experiment

According to the website, a material's density is defined as its mass per unit volume. It is, essentially, a
measurement of how tightly matter is crammed together (About Education). This property of a
substance help analyse the behaviour of a substance when is put under certain conditions. Also, this
property can be defined from the equation

(Wikipedia) for a liquid looking at two

points separated by height h and that is what this experiment is going to look at.

II.

Part two experiment

Calibration is defined as correlating the readings of (an instrument) with those of a standard in order to
check the instrument's accuracy (Your Dictionary). Measuring instruments measure at different
accuracies, and hence, some instruments are more trusted than the other because of their reliability.
However, under certain conditions, it might be hard to use one instrument than the other and one maybe
be forced to use the less accurate one. For such cases, it is useful to know with what amount the
measurement differs. Thus, this would allow one to easily correct the readings to what is known to be
true, and thats what this experiment is about.

2 Aim
I.

Part one experiment

The aim of this experiment is to determine density of two unknown liquids using a U-tube manometer.
That is, a probe is used to measure the pressure of a liquid at different heights and the readings are used
to determine the density.

II.

Part two experiment

The aim of this experiment is to calibrate a bourdon-tube gauge using a dead weight tester. That is, the
pressure read from the gauge will be compared with the pressure calculated manually.

3 Experimental Procedure
3.1 Apparatus
I.

Part one experiment

A container with two dissimilar liquids as well as a probe and a U-tube manometer was provide. Figure
3.1 shows roughly the setup of a manometer as the experiment was run.

Figure 3.1: Schematic representation U-tube manometer used for the experiment

II.

Part two experiment

Weights of different known mass were supplied. Supplied also include a dead weight tester device that
is used for calibration for static calibration of pressure gauges.

3.2 Method
I.

Part one experiment

The probe was inserted into the container at two different depths for each fluids and the length L,
including the height of the fluid on the left side of a manometer was recorded. Recorded readings also
include the distance from a reference point chosen at the bottom of the container to the fluid meniscus
level in the probe. Hence, using the equation defining variation of pressure as a function of depth, the
density of the two unknown fluids will be determined. Also, since it is possible to get two slightly
different answers from the values found, the final answer could be made better by finding the average
of these answers.

II.

Part two experiment

4

In six steps, the weights of known mass were added on the loading platform in an increasing order.
These weights include the piston itself which make up the loading platform, which was counted as the
first weight, taking care not to exceed 6 kg which was the maximum allowable mass. Thus, the
indicated gauge readings in an increasing weight order were taken, including the amount of weight at
each instant. Then the process was reversed by removing the weights in a decreasing order, also taking
readings at each instant. In each increasing and decreasing weight step, the loading platform was
rotated gently to help prevent the piston from sticking while taking readings.
Additionally, when there was nothing on the device, the gauge was reading six, this is the six that is
supposed to be subtracted on every value we read on the gauge. The pressure produced by the weights
would then be calculated, and, by the use of graph, it would then be compared to the gauge readings
using the average between the increasing and decreasing readings. Finally, the error will then be
determined between the applied and average pressures using a suitable graph.

4 Results
I.

Part one experiment

Let y denote the height of fluid on the right of the manometer. Figure 4.1 shows the table representing
the readings from the experiment.
F1

y(cm)
180
130
F2
y(cm)
70
30
Figure 4.1 Table for the readings of the experiment

L(straight)-(cm)
225
250
L(straight)-(cm)
284
305

L(slanted)-(cm)
209
182
L(slanted)-(cm)
148
128

Angle theta = 54 degrees

Calculating pressure using the values on the table.

Include the tables, graphs and images obtained from the experiment. Show at least one sample
calculation.

II.

Part two experiment

Given values:
5

Piston area = 315 mm^2 = 3.15x10^-4

Plunger and platform = 1 kg
Calibration constant (kN/m^2) = total mass (kg) x 31.14
Hance, force = calibration constant x mass, and from there we can workout pressure, p =
Figure 4.2 below is a table listing the readings and the values worked out from the experiment.
Cpi calculated pressure for values in an increasing order
Cpd calculated pressure for values in an increasing order
Igpr indicated gauge pressure readings

Mass(kg)

Cpi(kPa)

Cpd(kPa)

Igpr(kPa)(minus 6)

0
1
2
3
4
5
5.5

0
30
60
93
124
154
169

5 Discussion
I.

Part one experiment

II.

Part two experiment

Discuss the results of the practical. Possible points of discussion include;

The relevance of the results to the theory

Do the results seem reasonable and/or what was expected
If the results do not seem reasonable, what are the reasons for the errors
Possible sources of error
Recommendations
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6 Conclusion
I.

Part one experiment

II.

Part two experiment

Give a brief overview of the whole practical, were the aims satisfied, etc.

References
[1]

About

Education.

2015. What

is

Density?.

[ONLINE]

Available

at:http://physics.about.com/od/fluidmechanics/f/density.htm. [Accessed 20 August 15].

[2]

images.

2015. inclined

tube

manometer.

[ONLINE]

Available

at: https://www.google.co.za/search?
q=inclined+u+tube+manometer&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=979&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=
X&ved=0CCIQsARqFQoTCPHu2ayLtscCFUJaGgodRIMNVw. [Accessed 20 August 15].
[3]

wikipedia.

2015. Vertical

pressure

variation.

[ONLINE]

Available

at:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_pressure_variation. [Accessed 20 August 15].

[4]

Your

Dictionary.

2015. calibrate

definition.

at: http://www.yourdictionary.com/calibrate. [Accessed 20 August 15].

[ONLINE]

Available

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