AP Physics 2 : Other Fluid Dynamics
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Example Questions
Example Question #51 : Fluid Dynamics
Viscosity is defined loosely as internal friction in a fluid. Which of the following fluids would you expect to have the highest viscosity?
Molasses
Air
Water
Gasoline
Molasses
The correct answer is molasses. Since this liquid is notably thicker and more difficult to move, it is intuitively sensed that is has the highest viscosity of this group of fluids.
Example Question #2 : Other Fluid Dynamics
An object with mass 
We will start with Newton's second law:
Since the block is sinking at a constant velocity, we know that the net force is 0:
There are three forces acting on the ball: gravitational, buoyant, and drag. If we designate any downward force as positive, we get:
Where:
Where:
Plugging expressions 2, 3, and 4 into 1, we get:
Now we need to rearranging for the drag coefficient:
Plugging in our values, we get:
Example Question #51 : Fluid Dynamics
A spherical ball of mass 
We will start with Newton's second law for this problem:
When the ball reaches terminal velocity, we know that the net force on the ball is equal to 0:
There are three forces acting on the ball: gravitational, buoyant, and drag. If we designate any downward force as positive, we get:
Where:
Where:
Substituting expressions (2), (3), and (4) into (1), we get:
Now we just need to rearranging for velocity.
We have all of these values, so time to plug and chug:
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