Chapter 1: Introduction

and Preliminaries
BITS Pilani
Hyderabad Campus
Problem 1

1.39: At the beach, the atmospheric pressure is equal to 1010 mbar.

You dive 20 m down in the ocean, and later climb up a hill up to 500 m
in elevation. Assume that the density of the sea water is 1027 kg/m 3
and the density of the air is 1.2 kg/m3. What pressure do you feel at
each place? Assume that the acceleration due to gravity is 9.807 m/s 2.
Solution
Given that,
Atmospheric pressure at the sea level is
The density of seawater is , and density of air is
Thus, the pressure at a depth of 20 m below the ocean surface is,

The pressure at an elevation of 500 m is given as

Thus, the pressure experienced inside the ocean is 302.436 kPa, and the pressure
experienced at the top of the hill is 95.115 kPa.
Problem 2
1.26: One kilogram of Carbon Dioxide (molecular mass: 44) is
contained in a tank of capacity 600 L. Find the specific volume on both
a mass and molar basis.
Solution
Given that,

Volume of the tank, ,

Molecular mass of Carbon Dioxide,

From the definitions of specific volume, we have

For a mass basis,

For a mole basis,

Thus, on a mass basis, the specific volume is , and on a molar basis, the specific
volume is .
Problem 3
2.30. A 1-m3 container is filled with 400 kg of granite stone, 200 kg of dry sand, and 0.2
m3 of liquid 25◦C water. Using properties from Tables A.3 and A.4, find the average
specific volume and density of the masses when you exclude air mass and volume.
Problem 4
1.40: One of the largest cargo ships in the world has a length of 400 m
and a width of 58 m. Assuming that the shape is similar to a
rectangular box, and the ship is 10 m down in the water, how much
mass can the ship carry in tons? Take the mass of the empty ship as
200,000 tons and the density of ocean water as 1027 kg/m 3. Take the
acceleration due to gravity as 9.807 m/s2.
Solution
Given that, the cargo ship is 400m long, 58m wide, and has a waterline at a depth of
10m, with a mass of 200,000 tons. The density of ocean water is 1027 kg/m3.

As per the Archimedes Principle, the mass of the ship and cargo equates to the mass
of the water displaced by the ship.

The mass of the ocean water displaced is equal to the product of the volume and the
density. The volume of the water displaced and the mass is equal to

Thus, the mass of the cargo that the ship can carry is,

Thus, the ship can accommodate a maximum cargo of 38,264 tons for a 10m
displacement into water.
Problem 5
Problem 6
Problem 7
1.61:The main waterline into a tall building has a pressure of 650 kPa
at 5 m elevation below ground level, as shown in the figure below. At
the top floor, which is at a level of 125 m above ground level, the
waterline pressure needs to be at a pressure of 200 kPa. Thus, what is
the extra pressure needed to be added by the pump to ensure the
waterline pressure at the top floor? Take the density of water as 997
kg/m3.
(Note: This answer illustrates the difficulty of pumping water up to the
top floor water tanks of skyscrapers)
Solution
Given, the height of the water header is -5m, the pressure within the header is 650 kPa,
the height of the building is 125 m, and the pressure at the top floor outlet is 200 kPa.

The exit pressure of the pump should be able to balance the pressure due to the water
column, in addition to the pressure at the outlet. Part of this discharge pressure is
provided by the header pressure at the inlet. Thus, we have,

The pressure at the exit of the pump is given as

Thus, the pressure gradient provided by the pump is equal to

Thus, the additional pressure input from the pump is equal to 821.085 kPa.
Problem 8
1.63: A 5 kg piston in a cylinder with a diameter of 100 mm is loaded
with a linear spring and the outside atmospheric pressure is 100 kPa,
as shown in the figure below. The spring exerts no force on the piston
when it is at the bottom of the cylinder, and for the state shown in the
figure below, the pressure is 400 kPa with a volume of 0.4 L. The valve
is opened to let in some air, causing the piston to rise 2 cm. Find the
new pressure being exerted. As the spring is linear, the equilibrium
pressure varies linearly with volume as
Solution
A linear spring exerts a force proportional to the displacement, given as . Thus, the
equilibrium pressure varies linearly with volume as .

The surface area of the piston is calculated as

At the state of zero air pressure, the spring exerts zero force on the piston. From the
formulae

and

We have,

The volume at the second state is equal to

The slope of the linear graph is given as

Thus, the final pressure at state 2 is given as

Thus, at the final state, the pressure of the air under the piston is equal to 515.317 kPa.
 BITS Pilani
Hyderabad Campus

Extra Problems for Self-Study

Problem 1
1.19: A steel beam of 950 kg is raised by a crane with an acceleration
of 3m/s2 relative to the ground at a location where the acceleration due
to gravity is equal to 9.5 m/s2. What is the force required to be applied
to the weight?
Solution
Given that,

Mass of the steel beam = 950 kg.

Local acceleration due to gravity = 9.5 m/s2.

Upwards acceleration = 3 m/s2.

Thus, from the force balance, we have,

Thus, the upwards force exerted by the crane is equal to 11,875 N.

Problem 2
1.22: As the altitude above the surface of the earth increases, the
acceleration due to gravity is reduced as per the formula

Where z is the elevation in meters, and is the acceleration due to

gravity at sea level.

For an airplane cruising at an altitude of 10,000 m, what is the

percentage reduction of the weight of the airplane?
Solution
Given that the altitude is 10,000 m, and the acceleration due to gravity at the sea level
is . Thus, substituting the values in the equation

We have,

The weights are given as

and

Thus, the percentage reduction in the weight is given as

Thus, the percentage reduction of weight of an airplane is 0.338 %.

Problem 3
1.25: A tank has two chambers separated by a membrane. Chamber A
has 1 kg of air confined in a volume of 0.6 m3, while chamber B has 0.8
m3 of air with a density of 0.9 kg/m3. The membrane is broken, and the
entire system is allowed to come to a uniform state. Find the final
density of the air in the tank.
Solution
Given, , , , .

Thus, from the formula of density, we have the mass of air in compartment B as

As no air is added or removed to the tank, the total mass of air remains constant.

The total volume of the tank is equal to the sum of the volumes of the chambers.

Thus, the density of the air post mixing is equal to

Thus, the final density of the air after intermixing is 1.228 kg/m3.
Problem 4
1.28: A valve in a cylindrical as shown in the figure has a cross-
sectional area of 10 cm2, with the internal pressure of 800 kPa. How
much is the force required to open the valve, if the external pressure is
equal to the standard atmospheric pressure of 101.325 kPa?
Solution
Given that,

The pressure within the piston chamber, , and

The pressure outside the valve is .

Thus, the force balance on the valve gives

This gives the external force as

Thus, an external force of 698.675 kN should be applied to the valve to force it open
against the pressure.
Problem 5
1.46: A pilot is flying his airplane at an altitude of 2000 m above sea
level. If the density of atmospheric air is considered as constant at 1.15
kg/m3, and the gravitational force being constant across the range of
altitude, what will be the absolute pressure that the pilot would
experience? The acceleration due to gravity is given as 9.81 m/s 2.
Solution
Given that, the altitude of the plane is 2000 m above sea level, and the density of
atmospheric air is 1.15 kg/m3.

Thus, the pressure differential between the sea level and cruising altitude is given as

Thus, the absolute pressure felt by the airplane at the altitude of 2000 m is,

Thus, the absolute pressure experienced by the airplane was 78.762 kPa.
Problem 6
1.36: A roof of 100 m2 with a mass of 1000 kg was ripped out due to a
tornado. What is the pressure differential that was created due to the
tornado for ripping out the roof if the anchoring forces are neglected?
Assume the acceleration due to gravity as .
Solution
Given that,

The mass of the roof is 1000 kg, and the surface area of the roof is 100 m 2.

The force being applied on the roof is the difference in the pressure times the surface
area of the roof.

This force being applied on the roof must exceed the gravitational force on the roof to
blow it off, which gives,

Thus, the pressure differential created by the tornado is 98.07 Pa.

Problem 7
1.57: The density of mercury changes in a linear fashion with respect to
temperature as

Thus, the same pressure difference in different temperature settings

would result in differing manometer readings. If we measure the
pressure difference of 100 kPa in summer (35°C) and in winter (-15°C),
what is the difference in column height between the two
measurements?
Solution
Given, the pressure difference within the manometer is 100 kPa, the temperature in the
summer is 35°C, and the temperature in the winter is -15°C.

The pressure differential in the manometer relates to the reading as

Using the formula for density, we have the densities at the different temperatures as

Thus, the manometer readings become,

The difference between the manometer readings thus becomes:

 BITS Pilani
Hyderabad Campus

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