Lab#2

Topic: statics

Aim: To find the volume of an irregular shaped object using principles of moments and upthrust
force.

Apparatus and materials: Plasticine ball, string, sock, 10 lead balls[ 1 ball=5.5g],beaker, water,
retort stand, meter rule, pivot[wood].

Diagram of apparatus:

Method:

1. The meter rule was balanced at the 50cm mark.

2. The plasticine [irregularly shaped object] was hung at the 30cm mark

3. The known weight W [ the 10 lead balls] were adjusted until the ruler was balanced
again.

4. The distance of X1 was noted.

 5. A beaker of water was placed under X until X was totally immersed without touching the
bottom of the beaker.

6. The weight W was adjusted to a new position X2, until the ruler was balanced again.

Discussion:

Archimedes’ principle, physical law of buoyancy, discovered by the ancient Greek

mathematician and inventor Archimedes, stating that any-body completely or partially
submerged in a fluid (gas or liquid) at rest is acted upon by an upward, or buoyant, force, the
magnitude of which is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the body. The volume of
displaced fluid is equivalent to the volume of an object fully immersed in a fluid or to that
fraction of the volume below the surface for an object partially submerged in a liquid. The
weight of the displaced portion of the fluid is equivalent to the magnitude of the buoyant force.
The buoyant force on a body floating in a liquid or gas is also equivalent in magnitude to the
weight of the floating object and is opposite in direction; the object neither rises nor sinks. The
buoyant force, which always opposes gravity, is nevertheless caused by gravity. Fluid pressure
increases with depth because of the (gravitational) weight of the fluid above. This increasing
pressure applies a force on a submerged object that increases with depth. The result is buoyancy.

DISPLACEMENT LAW: A body displaces its own volume of the fluid in which it is submerged.

ARCHIMEDES PRINCIPLE: When a body is wholly or partially immersed in a fluid it

experiences an UPTHRUST which is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced (by the body).

Initial part of experiment, the weight of the unknown object[F1], was found by counter balancing
this F1 with a known weight [ weight of lead balls]. By putting the system in equilibrium, using
rotational analysis[ Principle of moment states that when a body is in equilibrium, the sum of
clockwise moments about a pivot is equal to the sum of anticlockwise moments about the same
pivot. (2) Resultant moment about the pivot is 0 => principle of moment must apply], this allows
us to find the value of F1[magnitude].
Secondly the unknown object was submerged and according to Archimedes principle: When a
body is wholly or partially immersed in a fluid it experiences an UPTHRUST which is equal to
the weight of the fluid displaced (by the body). The upthrust was directly proportional to weight
of the water being displaced. If the object was floating in the water, w=u where w is weight and
u is upthrust, this experiences buoyancy, the buoyancy law which states, when a body is partially
or fully immersed in a fluid, an upward force acts on it, which is called buoyant force. However,
the cantilever needed to be balanced by adjusting the position of the known weight measuring
some resultant force, unbalanced Force[F2] was acting on the unknown object, in this lab we see
that the object in this case being the plasticine ball doesn’t obey the law of floatation hence there
was resultant force F2 which was balanced by the known weight which was the weight of the
lead balls. The presence of F2 implies that the upthrust was unable to make the object float hence
F2= F1-U = W-U, where F2 was found through rotational analysis. The value of upthrust can be
determined and is related to the equation u= Vpg. Using this equation, we can rearrange it and
make V the subject of the formula to determine the value for Volume.
Precautions:
1. The ruler was centered properly
2. Non elastic string used
Sources of error:
1. The center of gravity of the object were assumed to be through the center of the object.
2. The surface may not have been perfectly levelled.

Conclusion:
V[ volume] was calculated to be 1.1 x 10-5m3.