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bigplanet401
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Homework Statement
A small tube is connected to the top of a larger one and the whole thing is filled with water. The small tube has height a and the larger tube has height b.
What happens to the pressure at the bottom of the larger tube as (1) a is varied, and (2) a is held constant but the diameter of the upper tube is increased?
Homework Equations
[tex]
p_\text{gauge} = \rho g h
[/tex]
Pascal's principle.
The Attempt at a Solution
(1) According to Pascal's principle, the larger tube will see a pressure increase of rho g a. This will increase the downward force at the bottom of the larger barrel, and that will be rho g a.
(2) I don't think the diameter matters, but intuitively I can't see why! If b is the diameter of a straw (a few millimeters), the smaller tube will increase the pressure on the larger one just as much as a big tube on top. It is only height that seems to matter, then, and if I took a really tall straw and put it over a large vat of water, I would see a huge increase in force at the bottom of the vat. Confused...