How do you find the density of a fluid?
A 5.00 kg iron (density = 7.86x103 kg/m3) block is attached to a spring scale and submerged in a fluid of unknown density. The spring scale reads 6.16 N. What is the density of the fluid?
A 5.00 kg iron (density = 7.86x103 kg/m3) block is attached to a spring scale and submerged in a fluid of unknown density. The spring scale reads 6.16 N. What is the density of the fluid?
1 Answer
Given,
Now recall Archimedes' principle,
And Newton's second law,
Let's derive the volume of the object, with your given data,
And recall that the volume of the fluid displaced will equal the volume of the object submerged. Thus,
Hence,
is the density of the fluid we immersed our object in (almost as dense as mercury!).
