AP Physics 2 : Fluids

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for AP Physics 2

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Example Questions

Example Question #11 : Flow Rate

Water is flowing through a pipe of radius  at a velocity of . The piper then narrows to a radius of . Determine the new velocity

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Initial volume rate must equal final volume rate:

Solving for

Plugging in values:

Example Question #11 : Flow Rate

Water is flowing through a horizontal cylindrical tube. By what factor does the velocity change by if the circumference of the tube doubles?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

We can model the volumetric flow through the tube as the following expression:

Where:

so:

Applying this to the first and second scenario, we get:

According to the law of continuity, we know that the volumetric flow through the tube (when neglecting friction and assuming that it is horizontal) is constant. Therefore, we can say:

Rearranging for the ratio :

From the problem statement, we are told that the circumference is doubled. Thus, we know that the radius of the tube doubles as well:

Plugging this into the expression, we get:

Example Question #11 : Flow Rate

How can the velocity of fluid through a pipe be increased?

Possible Answers:

Increase the density of the fluid

Increase the diameter of the pipe

Decrease the length of the pipe

Increase the length of the pipe

Decrease the diameter of the pipe

Correct answer:

Decrease the diameter of the pipe

Explanation:

By decreasing the diameter of the pipe we increase the volume flow rate, or the velocity of the fluid which passes through the pipe according to the continuity equation. 

Increasing or decreasing the length of the pipe has no effect on fluid velocity. Therefore the correct answer is to decrease the diameter of the pipe.

Example Question #11 : Flow Rate

A pipe has fluid flowing through it. Which of the following situations will occur if a section of the pipe is compressed resulting in a small area?

Possible Answers:

More than one of these is true

The velocity of the fluid in the compressed section will decrease

The pressure of the fluid in the compressed section will increase

The velocity of the fluid in the compressed section will increase

The velocity of the fluid in the compressed section will decrease

Correct answer:

The velocity of the fluid in the compressed section will increase

Explanation:

The velocity of the fluid in the compressed section will increase and the The pressure of the fluid in the compressed section will decrease. Therefore the correct answer is: More than one of these is true.

When the area of a pipe decreases the fluid velocity increases, and an increase in fluid velocity results in the decrease of pressure.

Example Question #12 : Flow Rate

Water is flowing through a pipe of radius  at a velocity of . The pipe then narrows to a radius of . Determine the new velocity.

Possible Answers:

None of these

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Initial volume rate must equal final volume rate

Solving for :

Plugging in values:

Example Question #31 : Fluid Dynamics

A tank is completely full of water to the height of . On the side of the tank, at the very bottom a small hole is punctured. With what velocity does water flow though the hole at the bottom of the water tank?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The equation for determining the velocity of fluid through a hole is as follows:

This equation is actually derived from Bernoulli's principle. The  is for velocity, the  is the acceleration due to gravity and  is the height. We solve for velocity by substituting for the values:

Example Question #32 : Fluid Dynamics

A syringe has a cross-sectional area of  and the needle attached to the syringe has a cross-sectional area of . The fluid in the syringe is pushed with a speed of , with what velocity does the fluid exit the needle opening?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The correct answer is  because the cross-sectional area of the syringe is  times larger than the needle opening. Therefore, the velocity will be  larger as well. 

Example Question #33 : Fluid Dynamics

Pipe  has radius , and pipe  has radius . The two pipes are connected. In order for the speed of water in pipe  to be  times as great as the speed in pipe , what must be ?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The continuity equation says that the cross sectional area of the pipe multiplied by velocity must be constant. Let  be the water speed in pipe .

Example Question #32 : Fluid Dynamics

Physics pic

A fluid is forced through a pipe of changing cross sections as shown. In which section would the velocity of the fluid be a maximum?

Possible Answers:

IV

II

III

I

All sections have the same velocity

Correct answer:

II

Explanation:

Flow rate is equal to the product of cross-sectional area and velocity and must remain constant. Therefore, as the cross-sectional area decreases, the velocity increases.

Example Question #31 : Fluid Dynamics

Water is flowing at a rate of  through a tube with a diameter of 1m. If the pressure at this point is 80kPa, what is the pressure of the water after the tube narrows to a diameter of 0.5m?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

We need Bernoulli's equation to solve this problem:

The problem statement doesn't tell us that the height changes, so we can remove the last term on each side of the expression, then arrange to solve for the final pressure:

We know the initial pressure, so we still need to calculate the initial and final velocities. We'll use the continuity equation:

Rearrange for velocity:

Where  is the cross-sectional area. We can calculate this for each diameter of the tube:

Now we can calculate the velocity for each diameter:

Now we have all of the values needed for Bernoulli's equation, allowing us to solve:

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