a column of water 60cm high supports a 32 cm column of an unknown liquid what is the density of the liquid
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This question uses the hydrostatic pressure equation, deltaP = rho*g*h, where deltaP is the change in pressure across a column of fluid, rho (looks like a p) is the density of the fluid, g is the acceleration due to gravity (9.805 m/s), and h is the height of the column.
In this setup, the 40 cm column of water exerts a pressure to balance the pressure of the other fluid. The pressure at the top of each column is atmospheric (since it didn't state that the top was closed), so the pressure at the bottom is just the deltaP, so:
rho_water * g * h_water = rho_unknown * g * h_unknown.
Here, the g term cancels, the two h terms are known, and the density of water is easily looked up.
I hope this helps.
In this setup, the 40 cm column of water exerts a pressure to balance the pressure of the other fluid. The pressure at the top of each column is atmospheric (since it didn't state that the top was closed), so the pressure at the bottom is just the deltaP, so:
rho_water * g * h_water = rho_unknown * g * h_unknown.
Here, the g term cancels, the two h terms are known, and the density of water is easily looked up.
I hope this helps.
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