What are the forces acting on the container?

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In a vacuum, when the lid of a closed container filled with air is opened, the air molecules move out due to the pressure gradient force, which drives fluids from high to low pressure. After the lid is removed, the forces acting on the remaining walls of the container decrease because the internal pressure drops significantly. The conservation of momentum principles apply, indicating that the air's movement does not exert a net force on the container itself. As air escapes, the container may experience a slight movement in the opposite direction of the escaping air due to the imbalance of forces on the walls. Ultimately, the dynamics of the situation illustrate how pressure differences influence both the air's motion and the container's response.
  • #31
gmax137 said:
true, the effect is transient.
because the engineers have included pipe restraints or hangers. if your pipe were free-floating in space you would see the motion.try the previously recommended toy balloon trick
What if you placed the pipe on a gram scale closed face down. You should at least see a force of a few grams on the scale right?

Again the balloon toy doesn’t not eliminate the possibility of the exhaust pushing off the atmosphere
 
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  • #32
jbriggs444 said:
You seem to be complicating the scenario unnecessarily. Close off both ends of the pipe. Create a small hole on the side of the pipe near one end. Assume the environment is vacuum. What happens next?

Does air blow out? If so, what does conservation of momentum say? If not, why not?

What forces exist on the inner walls of the pipe before the air has completely been exhausted out into the vacuum. Is there an imbalance?

On a different matter. The sum of the forces on the six sides of the box is not six times the force on anyone side. Forces are vectors. They add like vectors do.
Yes the air molecules move. “Conservation of momentum is a fundamental law of physics which states that the momentumof a system is constant if there are no external forces acting on the system. It is embodied in Newton's first law (the law of inertia).”

The external force is provided by pressure gradient force. This force causes fluids to move from high pressure to low pressure.

There is no need for the pipe to apply force on the gas as pressure gradient force provides such force.

What happens when the hole is made? Gas escapes right? So when gas escapes overall pressure is reduced on all six walls. Thus no overall force.
 
  • #33
Chuzzled said:
Yes the air molecules move. “Conservation of momentum is a fundamental law of physics which states that the momentumof a system is constant if there are no external forces acting on the system. It is embodied in Newton's first law (the law of inertia).”
Quoting definitions is pointless without an understanding thereof.

The external force is provided by pressure gradient force. This force causes fluids to move from high pressure to low pressure.
This is not correct. The force that a fluid under pressure applies to the container that bounds it is not given by the pressure gradient. It is given by the pressure multiplied by the directed area on which that pressure is applied.

In the context of first year physics, pressure is a scalar and the area vector has a direction perpendicular to the surface and directed outward away from the fluid. The magnitude of the area vector is given, of course, by the surface area of the incremental element of surface area being considered. If you want to know what force a pressure exerts, you multiply the surface area vector by the pressure scalar.

The pressure gradient is given by the rate of change of pressure with respect to distance. Unlike pressure (a scalar), the pressure gradient is a vector. Its direction is the direction in which pressure rises most rapidly. Its magnitude is the rate of change of pressure in that direction. The pressure gradient determines the direction and direction and rapidity with which a small fluid element will accelerate -- local pressure gradient divided by local fluid density [and multiplied by -1].

Terms such as "field", "potential" and "gradient" are encountered in a study of vector calculus.

Again, the pipe which bounds the fluid volume does not care about pressure gradients. What happens in the middle of the fluid does not matter to the pipe. What matters to the pipe is the pressure of the fluid where it meets the pipe.
There is no need for the pipe to apply force on the gas as pressure gradient force provides such force.
This is not correct. The pressure gradient amounts to a system of internal forces within the fluid. Internal forces cannot provide any net force on the fluid.
What happens when the hole is made? Gas escapes right? So when gas escapes overall pressure is reduced on all six walls. Thus no overall force.
This is not correct. If the fluid moved in a particular direction, it gained momentum in that direction. If it gained momentum in that direction, something else must have gained momentum in the opposite direction. In the absence of pressure, none of that could have happened. But it did happen. Pressure was responsible. Pressure existed and was responsible for a non-zero net force.
 
  • #34
Chuzzled said:
What happens when the hole is made? Gas escapes right? So when gas escapes overall pressure is reduced on all six walls. Thus no overall force.
Please read @Tom.G 's post #27, about the area of the dime-sized hole. This is the key to understanding this thing.
 
  • #35
jbriggs444 said:
Quoting definitions is pointless without an understanding thereof.This is not correct. The force that a fluid under pressure applies to the container that bounds it is not given by the pressure gradient. It is given by the pressure multiplied by the directed area on which that pressure is applied.

In the context of first year physics, pressure is a scalar and the area vector has a direction perpendicular to the surface and directed outward away from the fluid. The magnitude of the area vector is given, of course, by the surface area of the incremental element of surface area being considered. If you want to know what force a pressure exerts, you multiply the surface area vector by the pressure scalar.

The pressure gradient is given by the rate of change of pressure with respect to distance. Unlike pressure (a scalar), the pressure gradient is a vector. Its direction is the direction in which pressure rises most rapidly. Its magnitude is the rate of change of pressure in that direction. The pressure gradient determines the direction and direction and rapidity with which a small fluid element will accelerate -- local pressure gradient divided by local fluid density [and multiplied by -1].

Terms such as "field", "potential" and "gradient" are encountered in a study of vector calculus.

Again, the pipe which bounds the fluid volume does not care about pressure gradients. What happens in the middle of the fluid does not matter to the pipe. What matters to the pipe is the pressure of the fluid where it meets the pipe.

This is not correct. The pressure gradient amounts to a system of internal forces within the fluid. Internal forces cannot provide any net force on the fluid.

This is not correct. If the fluid moved in a particular direction, it gained momentum in that direction. If it gained momentum in that direction, something else must have gained momentum in the opposite direction. In the absence of pressure, none of that could have happened. But it did happen. Pressure was responsible. Pressure existed and was responsible for a non-zero net force.
I didn't say the force applied on the walls was pressure gradient. Force is equal to pressure times surface area. I stated that as soon as you open the hole pressure goes down. If pressure goes down force must also go down. That's math.

Yes pressure gradient force is a vector. I am not denying that. Still vector forces can be applied to move things. The vector in this case is that high pressure moves to the direction of low pressure which is space.

Pressure gradient force is a potential force. Like buoyancy. You push down a less dense object into water giving potential energy. You let go and the object moves upwards but does not apply a force in the opposing direction.
 
  • #36
Chuzzled said:
I stated that as soon as you open the hole pressure goes down. If pressure goes down force must also go down. That's math.
Force is a vector. Pressure has gradients. You cannot compute total force by multiplying total surface area by average pressure.

If you reduce pressure on one side of the pipe, net force goes up, not down.
Chuzzled said:
Pressure gradient force is a potential force. Like buoyancy. You push down a less dense object into water giving potential energy. You let go and the object moves upwards but does not apply a force in the opposing direction.
A gradient is the opposite of a potential.

The if a vector field is the "gradient" of a scalar field, then the vector field is conservative and the scalar field is the "potential" of the vector field.
 
  • #37
jbriggs444 said:
Force is a vector. Pressure has gradients. You cannot compute total force by multiplying total surface area by average pressure.

If you reduce pressure on one side of the pipe, net force goes up, not down.

A gradient is the opposite of a potential.

The if a vector field is the "gradient" of a scalar field, then the vector field is conservative and the scalar field is the "potential" of the vector field.
jbriggs444 said:
Force is a vector. Pressure has gradients. You cannot compute total force by multiplying total surface area by average pressure.

If you reduce pressure on one side of the pipe, net force goes up, not down.

A gradient is the opposite of a potential.

The if a vector field is the "gradient" of a scalar field, then the vector field is conservative and the scalar field is the "potential" of the vector field.
How does net force go up. Force =pressure*surface area. That’s a fact. https://www.dummies.com/education/science/physics/how-to-calculate-force-based-on-pressure/

When you open the hole, volume is increased and pressure is decreased. That’s a fact. http://www.westfield.ma.edu/cmasi/gen_chem1/Gases/ideal gas law/pvnrt.htm

You need energy to create a pressure gradient and then once you have such gradient, pressure gradient force takes over. The rocket utilized the energy from combustion reaction to create pressure. A vacuum cleaner uses a propeller to creat pressure gradient. So yes it is potential energy.

Pressure gradient force is a vector. That’s a fact. https://www.shodor.org/os411/courses/_master/tools/calculators/pgf/index.html
 
  • #38
Chuzzled said:
How does net force go up. Force =pressure*surface area. That’s a fact.
Force is a vector. That is a fact also. The net force from equal pressure on the six faces of a cube is zero.

To get the net force you find the forces on each face and add them all up as vectors.
 
  • #39
jbriggs444 said:
Force is a vector. That is a fact also. The net force from equal pressure on the six faces of a cube is zero.

To get the net force you find the forces on each face and add them all up as vectors.
Sure if you want to put it that way. But there is still force applied to all six walls. If the walls were elastic like a balloon, the pressure force would cause the walls to stretch.

But as soon as air starts coming out you will notice the balloon walls contracts. If there was an uneven force, you would see it on the balloon walls. Instead you see all the walls contract evenly
 
  • #40
Chuzzled said:
Sure if you want to put it that way. But there is still force applied to all six walls. If the walls were elastic like a balloon, the pressure force would cause the walls to stretch.

But as soon as air starts coming out you will notice the balloon walls contracts. If there was an uneven force, you would see it on the balloon walls. Instead you see all the walls contract evenly
Nope. There is an asymmetry. There is a hole in one wall. That wall is subject to less force than the rest. That means that there is an unbalanced net force. The balloon moves as a result.
 
  • #41
jbriggs444 said:
Nope. There is an asymmetry. There is a hole in one wall. That wall is subject to less force than the rest. That means that there is an unbalanced net force. The balloon moves as a result.
How can eliminate the possibility of the exhaust pushing off the atmosphere. Do you have a simple experiment to demonstrate this?
 
  • #42
Chuzzled said:
How can eliminate the possibility of the exhaust pushing off the atmosphere. Do you have a simple experiment to demonstrate this?
The simplest experiment is hazardous. Place a compressed air cylinder on its side and break off the valve. The resulting force is larger than atmospheric pressure multiplied by area of the hole. A loose cylinder can break through walls and wreak havoc.

In addition, the scenario introduced in post #1 in this thread involves vacuum, not atmosphere.

A quick trip to Google finds
 
  • #43
Chuzzled said:
Can you prove that? As soon as you open the hole, pressure decreases and the force applied to all walls decreases as a result.

What you said cannot be observed in reality. Let’s say you have a pipe with only one end open. You put a small hole on the side of the pipe near the closed end. You use vacuum near the open end to create a pressure gradient cause air to move out of the pipe. Why doesn’t the pipe move forward or at least have some thrust?

Can you create a simple experiment proving what you have stated?
Oh, we had this a few months ago - a silly youtube video of someone preventing a balloon rocket or something from moving with a vacuum cleaner. We're not going to indulge this. If you want to learn how rockets work, we can teach you, but you need to accept the teaching, not play silly games. Feel free to start a new thread, but only if you are going to accept and learn the actual physics. With diagrams and math and straightforward real world examples. No games with silly, purposely convoluted examples and no argementativeness.

Thread closed.
 
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