ME201: Assignment 1

Due date: 25th Aug.2023

1. A closed vessel full of water is rotating with constant angular velocity

Ω about a horizontal axis. Show that the surfaces of equal pressure
are circular whose common axis is at a height g/Ω2 above the axis of
rotation. [GK Batchelor, page 20, Exercise problem 1]
2. Obtain an expression for the pressure at the centre of a self-gravitating
spherical star of which the density at distance r from the centre is:
ρ = ρc (1 − βr2 ).
Show that if the mean density be twice the surface density, the pressure
at the centre is greater, by a factor 13
8
, than if the star had uniform
density with the same total mass.[GK Batchelor, page 20, Exercise
problem 2]
3. Consider a U-shaped tube containing mercury of density ρm as shown
in the figure below. If the fluid in tank A has a pressure p and density ρ,
then show that the gauge pressure in the tank is p − patm = ρm gh − ρga
[from Kundu, Cohen and Dowling].

4. Considering the atmosphere to be polytropic: pν n = constant, where ν

is the specific volume, show that the temperature in such an atmosphere
will vary linearly with height.
5. Consider a static atmosphere (in equilibrium) with a density variation
given by say: ρ = ρ(z). Now consider a gust of wind taking a chunk
of air from a height z0 to a height z0 + ζ, and since this can be con-
sidered as a rapid process, the density of this element of air varies,
say, adiabatically: pν γ = Constant. Now it may so happen that the
density surrounding this element of air may be more than the one ob-
tained by adiabatic expansion. Considering ζ to be small, investigate
the conditions for the stability of the above static atmosphere.