MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF FLUIDS

Pressure
Streamline flow
Bernoulli’s principle
Viscosity
Surface tension
Fluids are found everywhere in the world. Earth,s surface has about two-thirds of water and
one-third of land. Fluids are different from solids
Pressure of a fluid:
Fluid is a substance which begins to flow when an external force is applied on it. It offers a
very small resistance to the applied force. If the force acts on a smaller area, then the impact
will be more and vice versa.
Pressure is defined as the ‘force acting per unit area’

Pressure is a scalar quantity. Its S.I. unit and dimensions are N m–2 or
pascal (Pa) and [ML–1T–2] respectively, ‘atm’.
1 atm = 1.013 × 105 Pa or N m–2.

Density of a fluid
The density of a fluid is defined as its mass per unit volume. For a fluid of mass m occupying
volume V, the density ρ = mV . The dimensions and S.I unit of ρ are [ML–3] and kg m–3,
respectively. It is a positive scalar quantity
Relative density or specific gravity:
The relative density of a substance is defined as the ratio of the density of a substance to
thedensity of water at 4 °C. It is a dimensionless positive scalar quantity. For example, the
density of mercury is 13.6 × 103kg m–3. Its relative density is equal
Variation of Pressure with Depth;
The forces acting in the vertical direction are due to the fluid pressure at the top
(P1A) acting downward, at the bottom (P2A) acting upward. If mg is weight of
the fluid in the cylinder we have

if ρ is the mass density of the fluid, we have the mass of

fluid to be m = ρV= ρhA so

That

the pressure P, at depth below the surface of a liquid open

to the atmosphere is greater than atmospheric pressure by an amount ρgh. The
excess of pressure, P − Pa, at depth h is called a gauge pressure at that point.
Hydrostatic Paradox
When we talk about liquid at rest, the liquid pressure is the same at all points at
the same horizontal level (or same depth). This statement can be demonstrated
by an experiment called ‘hydrostatic paradox’. Let us consider three vessels of
different shapes A, B, and C as shown in Figure. These vessels are connected at
the bottom by a horizontal pipe. When they are filled with a liquid (say water),
it occupies the same level even though the vessels hold different amounts of
water. It is true because the liquid at the bottom of each section of the vessel
experiences the same pressure.

Atmospheric Pressure and Gauge Pressure

The pressure of the atmosphere at any point is equal to the weight of a column
of air of unit cross-sectional area extending from that point to the top of the
atmosphere. At sea level, it is1.013 × 105 Pa (1 atm)
Evangelista Torricelli- measuring atmospheric pressure.- ‘mercury barometer’

the pressure at Point A=0. The pressure inside the coloumn at Point B must be
the same as the pressure at Point C, which is atmospheric pressure, Pa.

A pressure equivalent of 1 mm is called a torr (after Torricelli).

An open tube manometer is a useful instrument for measuring pressure
differences. The pressure P at A is equal to pressure at point B. What we
normally measure is the gauge pressure which is P − Pa, given by Eq.and is
proportional to manometer height h.

Pressure is same at the same level on both sides of the U-tube containing a fluid.
For liquids, the density varies very little over wide ranges in pressure and
temperature and we can treat it safely as a constant for our present purposes.
Gases on the other hand, exhibit large variations of densities with changes in
pressure and temperature. Unlike gases, liquids are, therefore, largely treated as
incompressible
Pascal’s Law
Pascal’s law states that if the pressure in a liquid is changed at a particular point,
the change is transmitted to the entire liquid without being diminished in
magnitude
Application of Pascal’s law
Hydraulic lift
Therefore by changing the force on the smaller piston A, the force on the piston

B can be increased by the factor and this factor is called the mechanical
advantage of the lift.

whenever
external pressure is applied on any part of a fluid contained in a vessel, it is
transmitted undiminished and equally in all directions. This is another form of
the Pascal’s law and it has many applications in daily life.
viscosity is defined as the property of a fluid to oppose the relative motion
between its layers.
Streamlined flow
When a liquid flows such that each particle of the liquid passing through a
point moves along the same path with the same velocity as its predecessor
then the flow of liquid is said to be a streamlined flow

If we assume a bundle of streamlines having the same velocity over any cross
section perpendicular to the direction of flow, then such bundle is called a ‘tube
of flow”
 The flow of fluid is streamlined up to a certain velocity called critical velocity.
This means a steady flow can be achieved at low flow speeds below the critical
speed.
Turbulent flow
When the speed of the moving fluid exceeds the critical speed vc, the motion
becomes turbulent.

(a) turbulent flow around a sphere (when v = vc) (b) turbulent flow around a
sphere (when v > vc)
The distinction between the two types of motion can be easily demonstrated by
injecting a jet of ink axially in a wide tube through which water flows. When the
velocity of the fluid is small, the ink will move in a straight line path.
Conversely, when the velocity is increased beyond a certain value, the ink will
spread out showing the disorderliness and hence the motion becomes turbulent.
The zig-zag motion results in the formation of eddy currents and as a
consequence, much energy is dissipated
Terminal velocity
To understand terminal velocity, consider a small metallic sphere falling freely
from rest through a large column of a viscous fluid. The forces acting on the
sphere are (i)gravitational force of the sphere acting vertically downwards, (ii)
upthrust U due to buoyancy and (iii) viscous drag acting upwards (viscous force
always acts in a direction opposite to the motion of the sphere).
Initially, the sphere is accelerated in the downward direction so that the upward
force is less than the downward force. As the velocity of the sphere increases, the
velocity of the viscous force also increases. A stage is reached when the net
downward force balances the upward force and hence the resultant force on the
sphere becomes zero. It now moves down with a constant velocity.
The maximum constant velocity acquired by a body while falling freely
through a viscous medium is called the terminal velocity vt.
Expression for terminal velocity:
Consider a sphere of radius r which falls freely through a highly viscous liquid of
coefficient of viscosity η. Let the density of the material of the sphere be ρ and
the density of the fluid be σ.

If σ is greater than ρ, then the term (ρ – σ) becomes negative leading to a

negative terminal velocity.
Stoke’s law and its applications
When a body falls through a viscous medium, it drags the layer of the fluid
immediately in contact with it. This produces a relative motion between the
different layers of the liquid. Stoke performed many experiments on the motion
of small spherical bodies in different fluids and concluded that the viscous force
F acting on a spherical body of radius r depends directly on
i) radius (r) of the sphere
ii) velocity (v) of the sphere and
iii) coefficient of viscosity η of the liquid

This relation is known as Stoke’s law

Practical applications of Stoke’s law
Since the raindrops are smaller in size and their terminal velocities are small,
remain suspended in air in the form of clouds. As they grow up in size, their
terminal velocities increase and they start falling in the form of rain.
This law explains the following:
a) Floatation of clouds
b) Larger raindrops hurt us more than the
smaller ones
c) A man coming down with the help of
a parachute acquires constant terminal
velocity.
SURFACE TENSION
Intermolecular forces
Some liquids do not mix together due to their physical properties such as density,
surface tension force, etc. For example, water and kerosene do not mix together.
Mercury does not wet the glass but water sticks to it. They are mostly related to
the free surfaces of liquids. Liquids have no definite shape but have a definite
volume. Hence they acquire a free surface when poured into a container.
Therefore, the surfaces have some additional energy, called as surface energy
The phenomenon behind the above fact is called surface tension.
They are free to move about. The force between the like molecules which holds
the liquid together is called ‘cohesive force’. When the liquid is in contact with a
solid, the molecules of these solid and liquid will experience an attractive force
which is called ‘adhesive force’.
These molecular forces are effective only when the distance between the
molecules is very small about 10–9 m-sphere of influence

Consider three different molecules

A, B, and C in a given liquid
the net force experienced by A is zero, B has more molecules
towards its lower side than the upper side, it experiences a net force in the
downward direction. if another molecule ‘C’ is chosen on the liquid surface
When any molecule is brought towards the surface from the interior of the liquid,
work is done against the cohesive force among the molecules of the surface. This
work is stored as potential energy in molecules. So the molecules on the
surface will have greater potential energy than that of molecules in the interior of
the liquid. But for a system to be under stable equilibrium, its potential energy (or
surface energy) must be a minimum. Therefore, in order to maintain stable
equilibrium, a liquid always tends to have a minimum number of molecules. In
other words, the liquid tends to occupy a minimum surface area. This behaviour
of the liquid gives rise to surface tension
This excess energy per unit area of the free surface of the liquid is called ‘surface
energy’.In other words, the work done in increasing the surface area per unit area
of the liquid against the surface tension force is called the surface energy of the
liquid.

Examples for surface tension.

Water bugs and water striders walk on the surface of water The water molecules
are pulled inwards and the surface of water acts like a springy or stretched
membrane. This balance the weight of water bugs and enables them to walk on
the surface of water. We call this phenomenon as surface tension.
The hairs of the painting brush cling together when taken out of water. This is
because the water films formed on them tends to contract to a minimum area

Factors affecting the surface tension of a liquid

1) The presence of any contamination or impurities considerably affects the
force of surface tension depending upon the degree of contamination.
(2) The presence of dissolved substances can also affect the value of surface
tension
(3) Electrification affects the surface tension. When a liquid is electrified,
surface tension decreases. Since external force acts on the liquid surface due to
electrification, area of the liquid surface increases which acts against the
contraction phenomenon of the surface tension. Hence, it decreases.
(4) Temperature plays a very crucial role in altering the surface tension of a
liquid. Obviously, the surface tension decreases linearly with the rise of
temperature.
Surface tension
The surface tension of a liquid is defined as the force per unit length of the liquid
or the energy per unit area of the surface of a liquid
T = F/l, The SI unit and dimensions of T are N m−1 and M T−2,
Surface Energy

Relation between surface tension and surface energy:

Let F be the force due to surface tension, then

F = (2T) l

the surface energy per unit area of a

surface is numerically equal to the surface tension.

Angle of contact-‘The angle between the tangent to the liquid surface at the
point of contact and the solid surface inside the liquid is known as the angle of
contact between the solid and the liquid. It is denoted by θ’
it is the factor which decides whether a liquid will spread on the surface of a
chosen solid or it will form droplets on it, Let us consider three interfaces such
as liquid-air, solid-air and solid-liquid with reference to the point of contact ‘O’
and the interfacial surface tension forces Tsa, Tsl and Tla on the respective
interfaces
Practical applications in real life.
1.Soaps and detergents are wetting agents. When they are added to an aqueous
solution, they will try to minimize the angle of contact and in turn penetrate
well in the cloths and remove the dirt.
2.Water proofing paints are coated on the outer side of the building so that it
will enhance the angle of contact between the water and the painted surface
during the rainfall.
 Capillarity

Practical applications of capillarity

• Due to capillary action, oil rises in the cotton within an earthen lamp. Likewise
sap rises from the roots of a plant to its leaves and branches.
• Absorption of ink by a blotting paper
• Capillary action is also essential for the tear fluid from the eye to drain
constantly.
• Cotton dresses are preferred in summer because cotton dresses have fine pores
which act as capillaries for sweat.
BERNOULLI’S THEOREM
Equation of continuity