Saxon Bowl IYPT 2020 - analytical solution

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Today I will tell you about my vision on the problem #6 "Saxon Bowl" IYPT 2020.
Due-to I have a lot of english IYPT players last year whose used my website, I decided to choose
English for this article.

Nevertheless, I had Russian users and I think it will be a good practice to learn the language!

But before you dive in I feel like a warning is in order. I am not a proffesional physicist and I am
absolutely sure that even in this article I have a lot of possibe mistakes. Before using this it will be
nice to check all results with your teachers. I appreciate any corrections in comments from you.

It's good to start with the problem' statement:

A bowl with a hole in its base will sink when placed in water.
The Saxons used this device for timing purposes. Investigate
the parameters that determine the time of sinking.

As I understand, we can measure the elapsed time, knowing water level in the bowl. Therefore, our
goal is to find the dependence of water level from time.

Essentially we have a bowl with a hole on the surface of the water. Let's consider this system:
I assume that h(t) is a constant quantity. Furthermore, I will not consider сapillary action. I
believe that only difference of pressure influences the result.

In our particular case I decide to solve this problem, using dynamic consideration. (Or the same,
second Newton law)
As I mentioned before the major effect is difference in pressure. Let's consider this difference:
 On the small piece of water coming inside acts pressure-gradient force:

F=ΔP⋅S=m⋅a(1)

We can calculate mass, knowing the water density and the volume of the piece:

m=S⋅δ⋅ρ
Now we can rewrite (1) as

Sδρ⋅¨y=ΔP⋅S=ρgS⋅(h−x),
where x - water level inside the bowl and y - piece of water position.

Finally, we have following expression:

¨y=gδ⋅(h−x)(2)

We can't solve this, because there are two unknown variables. We should link x with y.
We can easy do this, using the fact water is not compressible fluid:

˙y⋅S=˙x⋅πr2,(3)
where r - radius of the bowl.

Differentiating (3), we get:

¨y⋅S=¨x⋅πr2(4)
Using (4) and (2) we have the following inhomogeneous differential equation:

¨x+gSδπr2x=gShδπr2(5)
 "The solutions of any linear ordinary differential equation of any order may be deduced by
integration from the solution of the homogeneous equation obtained by removing the constant
term."

As we know, solution of inhomogeneous differential equation can be found as sum of general

solution of homogeneous equation and particular solution of inhomogeneous equation.

General solution of homogeneous

Characteristic polynomial for our equation is:

λ2+gSδπr2=0
hence, λ=±√gSδπr2

Therefore, general solution we can express by following way:

xgh=Aei√gSδπr2t+Be−i√gSδπr2t

Particular solution of inhomogeneous

We can make sure that solution is xpi=h by substracting in (5)

General solution of inhomogeneous

xg=Aei√gSδπr2t+Be−i√gSδπr2t+h(6)
With initial conditions:

x(0)=0⇒A+B+h=0(7)
˙x(0)=0⇒A−B=0(8)

Combining (6), (7) and (8) we can get:

x=2hsin2(√gSδπr2t2)
From this formula we can conclude, that initial velocity ˙x
is small due-to second initial condition (water is not yet in motion).
Also, we can clearly see that final velocity becomes very small. It happens because difference in
pressure becomes very small, so force, acting on a small piece of water, becomes very small:
We should understand that we are interested in area, where x≤h
due-to after that your bowl is flooded.

In addition we can get expression for the time of flooding (x=h):

T≈πr2√δπgS
Finally, I would like to convey to you an important idea. As I mentioned in the beginning of the
article, this small part of solution should not be absolutely right: you have to check all information
you found in the internet and make your own general point of view. This is basic idea of IYPT.
Good luck!