Under Pressure

The eighth unit of AP Physics 1 was Fluids which covers structure, density, pressure, Fluids of Newton's Laws and Fluids of Conservation Laws. For this unit's project I was in a group with Gracie O'Hara and Ella Coopersmith and we were asked to design a water system using available pipes and at specific points, measure and/or calculate the height, speed, and pressure. 

to find Process

Because the only pipes available to us were the pipes from Mr. William's, and everyone was fighting for pipes, our first step was to grab a good handful of pipes and pipe connectors to ensure pipe variety. After fooling around with the pipes, we reached a design that the three of us liked, and we made a blueprint and took measurements because we knew we were going to be rebuilding this in the future. 

Next, we took our pipe system outside and we took a video of water just flowing through the pipe and a video of Gracie blowing into the pipe. For the first video, we did all of the required measurements and calculations. For the second video, we did all of the requirements in addition to calculating the pressure Gracie added when she blew into the pipe system. 

We then put everything into a slideshow, and after doing some additional calculations, it was really interesting that Gracie added ~2 meters of "pressure" to our system!

Content

Density (p): the compactness of a substance; p = m/v

Pressure Gauge (Pgauge): the difference between the absolute pressure of a system and the surrounding atmospheric pressure; Pgauge = pgh

Absolute Pressure (P): total pressure in a system including the atmospheric pressure; P = P0 + pgh

Pressure (P): the force applied perpendicularly over a given surface; P = F/A

Buoyant Force (Fb): the tendency of an object to float in a fluid

Volumetric Flow Rate (Q): the volume of fluid that passes through a given cross-sectional area per unit of time; Q = Av

Conservation of Mass: the volume flow rate must stay the same in a system; A1v1 = A2v2

Bernoulli's Equation: static pressure + dynamic pressure = total pressure; P1 + pgy1 + ½pv1² = P2 + pgy2 + ½pv2²

Reflection

This project was a little difficult for me to grasp, given the completely new variables and equations, but I had a fun time with this project! And as a reflection on the 6C's, two things I did well were being a critical thinker and being a conscientious learner. Looking back, there were so many places where my group and I could've made mistakes, and I've realized that we analyzed the data we took really, really well and thoroughly. My group and I also made clear goals and time stamps for most of the project. We were really on task, even being one of the first groups to set up and execute our pipe system. 

Two things I still need to work on are being a better communicator and collaborator. While doing the calculations, I feel that my group and I weren't so clear on what we were doing, and we all just took off on our own without double-checking. So, before we had to present, we had a difficult time sorting out our calculations. Along with that, during the recording portion of our project, we had a small dispute about how and where we should videotape to get the data we needed and I feel like we could have avoided the whole thing if we had maintained a better overall attitude towards each other.