What is Water pressure: Definition and 149 Discussions

Pressure (symbol: p or P) is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure (also spelled gage pressure) is the pressure relative to the ambient pressure.
Various units are used to express pressure. Some of these derive from a unit of force divided by a unit of area; the SI unit of pressure, the pascal (Pa), for example, is one newton per square metre (N/m2); similarly, the pound-force per square inch (psi) is the traditional unit of pressure in the imperial and U.S. customary systems. Pressure may also be expressed in terms of standard atmospheric pressure; the atmosphere (atm) is equal to this pressure, and the torr is defined as 1⁄760 of this. Manometric units such as the centimetre of water, millimetre of mercury, and inch of mercury are used to express pressures in terms of the height of column of a particular fluid in a manometer.

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  1. R

    Water hydro statics and presure

    hey guys. bellow is an upside down cone frustum with the dimensions given bellow where the green R is the radius of the larger circle and the blue r is the radius of the smaller circle and the red h to be the height of the object knowing that volume of this shape is calculated as...
  2. D

    Please explain curious behavior with my rainwater barrel

    I have a barrel that collects rainwater from the gutters on my house. At the bottom of the barrel is a manual 'faucet' with a round handle for turning the flow on and off. On that spigot, I have installed a "Y" fitting. One side of the "Y" goes to the irrigation hose which I turn on when the...
  3. K

    Is the water pressure equal in a sealed column at the top and bottom?

    Is the water pressure equal in a sealed column at the top and bottom? If I created 1 bar of pressure would this also be equal at the top and bottom?
  4. D

    How Does Atmospheric Pressure Affect Water Stream Shrinkage?

    Homework Statement Water flows through a hole at the bottom of a tank that is filled to a height h=3m. The radius of the hole is r1 = 1.5 cm. 1. What is the speed of the water immediately after it leaves the hole? 2. At what distance d below the bottom of the tank is the radius of the stream...
  5. arpon

    Calculating velocity for water pressure

    Homework Statement A tank of cross-sectional area ##A## contains a liquid having density ##\rho##. The liquid squirts freely from a small hole of area ##a## at a distance ##H## below the free surface of the liquid. If the liquid has no internal friction(viscosity), with what...
  6. S

    Water Pressure in an Isolated System

    So I'm more into electricity, so fluids is not really a forte at all. But I have been thinking about this, and there must be some fundamental issue in the way that I view fluid pressure. Conditions: 1. I have a metal pipe, incompressible 2. There is water in the pipe, (incompressible? ...
  7. T

    Required water pressure to find air leak

    I have an air leak somewhere in a coil or 20 feet of pipe in a mechanical room next to a transformer. I have 160 psi of air on the system and it dropped 30 psi in two days. I have tried to find the lead with 60 psi of water currently but no success. I do not want to put a lot of water...
  8. S

    Low Water Pressure in high rise buildings

    Hello, I am learning physics on my own and came across this question about why we would have low water pressure in a high rise apartment compared to an apartment located on ground level. I googled and cannot find a direct explanation. I took some time to think about the approach and I could...
  9. Bruno Carbone

    Ocean in the Sky: Exploring a Hypothetical Scenario

    Hi all! In the absurd hypothesis that we could take all water from Earth's oceans and distribute it equally through the sky ceiling (as shown below). We have the point of view of an observer in the land. Questions: 1. We know that the water pressure rises as we come closer to Earth's core...
  10. M

    What is the Equation for Water Pressure on a Dam Wall?

    Homework Statement Consider a simple model of a free-standing dam, depicted in the diagram. Water of density ρ fills a reservoir behind the dam to a height h. Assume the width of the dam (the dimension pointing into the page) is w. (a) Determine an equation for the pressure of the water as...
  11. B

    What is the pressure force on the gate at point A?

    Homework Statement The following shows a cross section through a tank with a rectangular sloping gate that is 10 m long and 4 m wide (width is measured into the page). The gate is hinged along its top edge and held closed by a force at its bottom edge at A that acts perpendicular to Gate AB...
  12. J

    Europan water pressure, how does the ice contribute to the pressure?

    Disclaimer: all of the following is mostly theoretical* So on Europa the pressure on the surface of the ice crust is 0.1 microPa * Gravity on the surface is 1.314 m/s^2 * The ice crust is estimated to be ~10-30 km thick * Beneath the crust is about 100 km of liquid water * According to my...
  13. P

    Air pressure and Water pressure question

    Hi, I am wondering if anyone can help me out with this, I'm looking to create 130.5 PSI of Water pressure for 15-20 seconds. If I were to pressurize an air chamber what size/volume would be required to achieve the above? Or would it be better to directly pressurize a chamber with water...
  14. G

    Water pressure through narrowing funnel

    In the picture i have included I was wondering if the same downward force (black arrows) applied in the diagrams would result in an increased pressure as the water comes up through the same size hole. I am assuming that both Diagram B and C will result in a higher pressure because of the...
  15. B

    How Does Water Pressure Change Inside a Spinning Test Tube?

    Homework Statement A test tube filled with water is being spun around in an ultra centrifuge with angular velocity ω. The test tube is lying along a radius, and the free surface of the water is at a radius r0. (a) Show that the pressure at radius r within the test tube is P =...
  16. D

    Water Pressure in a Sealed Vessel

    Hello, I am a PhD student in chemistry, and need to determine the pressure of a reaction to be carried out I have a steel pressure vessel with an inner Teflon container (total volume = 270 mL) which is placed in an oven at 250°C. I wish to put 240 mL of water into this container (along...
  17. J

    Water pressure in different shaped tanks

    For an IP67 rating (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_Code), an electrical enclosure must be submerged to 1m for 30 minutes with no water ingress. A basic test setup is shown in Fig A with the EUT ( Equipment Under Test) placed at the bottom of a tank. An alternative test setup was...
  18. B

    Measuring water pressure in long flexible tube.

    Hello dear sirs/madams, I would ask you to answer the following question. I have a flexible hose with a diameter of 5 cm, a length of 10 meters, it is in a vertical position and is filled to the top, with water. The hose is sealed on the top and the bottom. At the top of the hose...
  19. M

    Water pressure in narrow containers

    I know the general formula for water pressure is related to the height of the water column. But imagine the next situation: A vertical glass tube, 1.0 m high and 100 mm wide, full of water, can support the water inside even with a 0.5 or 1.0 mm thickness wall, but if I have a pool, 1.0 m high...
  20. X

    Reducing Water Pressure (Pipe sizing)

    I have a problem at work and unfortunately it has been too long since I have been in a class room for me to reason this one out, never did like fulid mechanics much :). We have filter that is pressurized to approximately 55 psi. Once ever 12min or so this filter purges a volume of ~2L that...
  21. C

    Solving a Water Pressure Problem: Gauge Pressure at B

    Hi, I am working on this water pressure problem, given: v_A = 2.0 \frac{m}{s} gauge pressure_A = 50 kPa the view is from above, no height changes find: gauge pressure @ B so, A_Av_A=2(A_Bv_B) 1.5*10^{-2}m^2(2.0\frac{m}{s})=2(5*10^{-3}m^2v_B) v_B=9.0\frac{m}{s} Bernoulli's equation (w/o...
  22. A

    Relation between liquid water pressure and it's molecular dynamics

    Hello everyone. I'm am looking for some literature (articles or books) containing information about how is the relation between the liquid water pressure (macroscopic thermodynamic quantity) and it's quantum molecular dynamics (collisions, vibrations, etc.). Like: The pressure increase...
  23. M

    Physics of Water Pressure Regulators/Reducing Valves

    My brother is a professional plumber and I'm a physics major, so he often comes to me for explanations of some of the physics underlying his job. I'm familiar with the basics of fluid mechanics, e.g. hydrostatic principles, continuity equation, Bernoulli's law, Poiseuille's law. But often I...
  24. M

    Water pressure on base of cube

    "A cube of wood of side 4cm floats in fresh water with 1:4 showing above the surface. Calculate a) the water pressure on the base of the cube and b) the density of the wood" All I can work out is that the density of fresh water is 1000kgm^-3 and the area of the base is 1.6 x 10^-5 m...
  25. E

    Water pressure and gravity in a storage cylinder

    Say you have a cylinder. The cylinder is 6 inches in diameter and 10 feet high. The cylinder has a floor at the bottom and is open at the top. The cylinder is full of water. How much pressure is exerted on the floor of the cylinder? Is it simply the weight of the water in the...
  26. F

    Forces and water pressure on a wall

    Homework Statement I have a wall, which is basically a gate of a shipping lock. I have different water levels on both side of the wall. I made a graph to illustrate my problem and dimensions: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47965009/problem1.png Homework Equations 1. Find the...
  27. D

    Pore water pressure calculations

    Homework Statement A cross-section of a proposed excavation for a highway corridor is to be conducted in the proximity of a house built on shallow foundation. It is expected that the original groundwater table will drop to a permanent level as shown in the figure due to the excavation. (Please...
  28. L

    Can water pressure really equal 200 tons of dynamite?

    Washington Post quotes water transmission lines "highly pressurized pipes that can explode with the force of 200 tons of dynamite" have they dropped a decimal point here? Thats a lot of dynamite! It's been years since I've tried such calculations and now couldn't even try...
  29. N

    Kinetic energy, Potential energy and change in water pressure

    Homework Statement I'm not particularly confident with my calculations and I would appreciate any feed back. A) What is the kinetic energy of an object with: mass = 5lbm velocity = 200 ft/sec B) What is the potential energy of an object with: mass = 5lbm height = 200ft g = 32.2...
  30. D

    Determine force on each bolt due to water pressure

    Homework Statement Homework Equations Here is the problem and solution to the problem: I don't understand how it is finding the forces on the bolts when it takes ƩMcd. What is going on there? I also don't see how sin(45) is coming into play. Is there a different/better way...
  31. O

    Build a Water Pressure Engine Prototype: Tips & Equipment Needed

    I recently watched a documentary on the Marianas Trench and took special note to the crushing capacity of the water pressure at up to 11km creating 16,000 psi of pressure. Being an avid mechanic, i work with today's combustion engine which can generate about 600psi in each cylinder, using the...
  32. V

    Measuring water pressure in an open tank

    Hello to everyone... I've been reading these blog and searching the web trying to find a solution for my problem, but I couldn't find anything. I need to meassure the water pressure (differential pressure) in an open tank. The colum of water is aprox. 10-15cm tall. I need to do these...
  33. M

    Measuring water pressure differential in a pvc pipe

    I'm having problems with our pressure measurements on a pretty basic PVC water flow system. I drew up the general design in paint and attached it so you can have a visual of what I'm talking about. The second attachment is a picture of the actual pipe design. We're controlling the flow rate...
  34. S

    Water Pressure Velocity Acceleration (dv/dt)

    I am having trouble solving this problem. Any assistance is greatly appreciated. Water is discharged from a pipeline at a velocity of v given by v=1192p^(1/2), where p is the pressure (in psi). If the water pressure is changing at a rate of 404 psi/second, find the acceleration (dv/dt) of the...
  35. J

    Calculate water pressure in tube end when tube is compressed

    Hello! Background I have a hobby in creating an automated home, controlling lights, reading temperatures, and so on from self build sensors and actuators. For a while I have had force sensing resistors under each leg of my bed so I can messaure my own weight every day, sleeping patterns and...
  36. S

    Water Pressure in tank filled with water

    Figure 14-24 shows a tank filled with water. Five horizontal floors and ceilings are indicated; all have the same area and are located at distances L, 2L, or 3L below the top of the tank. Rank them according to the force on them due to the water, greatest first. Are we just comparing the...
  37. T

    Water Pressure in One Pipe Flowing to Another

    Homework Statement A water pipe tapers down from an initial radius of R1 = 0.22 m1 to a final radius of R2 = 0.08 m1. The water flows at a velocity v1 = 0.85 m1s-1 in the larger section of pipe. The water pressure in the center of the larger section of the pipe is P1 = 283640 Pa. Assume the...
  38. E

    Equation help - water pressure at bottom of a pond

    equation help -- water pressure at bottom of a pond I'm trying to solve this problem "A car is flipped upside down in a pond, .50m below the surface, how much force is needed for the driver to push open the door." I got this wrong because the formula that was chose was F = (P - (P+rho x g x y))...
  39. M

    Calculating water pressure, gauge pressure

    Homework Statement I've attached an image of a dam. The problem reads as follows: The fresh water behind a reservoir dam has depth D = 15 m. A horizontal pipe 4 cm in diameter passes through the dam at depth d = 6 m. A plug secures the pipe opening. Find the magnitude of the frictional force...
  40. H

    Bernoulli? Difference in water pressure between floors

    Homework Statement A water line enters a house 2.0 m below the ground. A smaller diameter pipe carries water to a faucet 5.0 m above the ground, on the second floor. Water flows at 2.0 m/s in the main line and at 7.0 m/s on the second floor. Take the density of water to be 1.0 x 103 kg/m3...
  41. C

    Water Pressure in Box: Calculating Perspex Thickness

    Dear All I have approximately 300liters of water that I would like to house in a box. However I would like to check up on my water every now and again so I would like to make it out of clear perspex/acrylic. I could make it out of glass, but perspex is cheaper and easier for me to handle...
  42. E

    Doubts about the formula for hydrostatic water pressure on a vertical surface

    Hey guys, So I have just learned that the formula for a fluid's hydrostatic pressure (let's say water for the purpose of simplification) in terms of depth is: P = ρ * g * h Now I have been reading a bit on my textbook and I found out that the derivation of this formula is based on the...
  43. H

    Find the Best Water Pressure Sensor for Your Tank

    I have a water tank, and i want to make a circuit that measures the water height, and display the value on a 3 seven segment display as a percentage of the total height. So am searching for a pressure sensor that i want to put in the tank. Can anyone advise me for a sensor number that i...
  44. R

    Understanding Water Pressure in Mississippi Flooding and Levee-Dwelling Homes

    WRT the Mississippi flooding, you see pictures of homes with levees surrounding them that the homeowners built. It keeps the water out. Here is my question. The ground beneath the flood waters has to be soaked. Wouldn't this water permeate the dry ground right next to it under the levee like...
  45. H

    What Is the Name of the Switch That Turns Off a Water Pump Due to Low Pressure?

    What do you call a switch that switches off an electric powered water pump if the pressure drops to low? An example would be if the filter gets clogged up and the pump doesn't get enough water. I see a lot of "water pump pressure switch 40/60 psi" but that is not it. I don't know what...
  46. Y

    Understanding Water Pressure: Solving Homework with P1 and P2 Equations

    Homework Statement Homework Equations P2=P1+pgh The Attempt at a Solution I thought you would just plug in the pressure in pascals to p1 and add [(1000 kg/m3)(9.8m/s2)(sqrt 2)]?
  47. T

    Is the Formula P = Depth * 0.1 Accurate for Determining Water Pressure

    hi, I'm doing a small research project on underwater habitats. Nothing serious just in my spare time, and simply wondered if the formula P = depth * 0.1 is accurate enough to determine the water pressure at different levels or if it's to crude to be used at all. if i may have missed some points...
  48. L

    How to calculate the water pressure?

    the pipes is horizontal,there are 3 opennings at the end.the water is pumped with 8 bars , how to calculate the pressure of these 3 openings?
  49. S

    Water Pressure & World Rotation: An Unanswered Query

    Homework Statement A wall is firmly in the ground, if you shoot water at it via a hose why does it not have an effect on the world's rotation? Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution The question is something like that. You get the general idea.
  50. J

    Does Water Pressure Change Inside a Cave at the Bottom of the Ocean?

    I understand that water pressure is solely a function of the weight of the water column (plus atmospheric pressure) above a given point in the body of water. Ignoring atmospheric pressure, assume that a water column above a given point at the bottom of a tank of water is 10 pounds. Assume...
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