//08.prep
Workshop prep
Twenty minutes or less.
Week 8 — Fluid properties, pressure, buoyancy. Pick a mode. Start a timer. That's it.
Pick a mode
The shortest path to walking in prepared.
Timer
5:00
//content
Week 8 carries three live assessments: the tutorial portfolio item, the Mastering Physics modules, and — distinctively this week — an assessed Lab/Practical worksheet that feeds the 10% Lab Report. Plan to be at the lab session. Bring the worksheet.
5-minute version
Three pillars. One sentence each.
- Fluid properties — density, specific weight, specific gravity, and Newton’s law of viscosity .
- Hydrostatic pressure — + Pascal’s law isotropy. Walk manometer paths: down adds, up subtracts.
- Buoyancy — . Always use the fluid’s density and the displaced volume.
Open the cheatsheet quiz, do 3 easy questions, close it. You’re prepped enough for the tutorial.
20-minute prep plan
| Time | Action |
|---|---|
| 0–5 min | Skim the cheatsheet tables. |
| 5–10 min | Re-do Tutorial Ex 4 (oil-over-water gauge pressures) by hand. |
| 10–15 min | Take the cheatsheet quiz. Don’t worry about the score. |
| 15–20 min | Read “Common mistakes” + the exam-style sample in the in-depth note. |
Lab-specific prep
The Lab/Practical class this week is assessed — your data + worksheet feed the 10% Lab Report. Before you walk in:
- Re-read the lab brief / worksheet (check LMS for the document).
- Be confident with , , and how to convert a measured submerged length / mass to a density.
- Know the difference between gauge and absolute pressure — instruments usually read gauge.
- Bring a calculator, a pen, the worksheet, and (if relevant to your lab) the data table from your prep.
In the session itself:
- Record numbers as you measure them — don’t trust memory.
- Note units beside every measurement.
- Sanity-check each result before moving on (does the buoyant force roughly equal the weight of displaced fluid?).
- Submit the worksheet at the end. This is the assessment artefact — don’t leave with it.
What to revise first
Most students slip on these in Week 8 problems:
- Forgetting the “displaced” in . Use , not . For a floating body, is the submerged part only.
- Sign errors in manometer walks. Going down through a fluid adds ; going up subtracts. Pick a direction at the start and commit.
- Treating as a density. means . Convert first, plug second.
- Inclined manometer geometry. The inclined length is not the vertical drop; multiply by first.
Key formulas
Likely workshop tasks
| Task type | What the setup usually looks like |
|---|---|
| Density / volume warm-up | Trapezoidal pool, irregular tank — compute then . |
| Viscosity bearing | Plate or concentric cylinders sliding through a thin oil film; find , , . |
| Manometer walk | Mixed-fluid path with mercury, oil, water; find pressure at a labelled point in gauge or absolute. |
| Buoyancy / Archimedes | Submerged block on a cable, floating iceberg, hydrometer calibration. |
| Pressure to height conversion | Express a given pressure as a column of mercury, water, or named fluid. |
Mistakes to avoid
- Mixing and within a single problem.
- Treating gauge pressure as absolute (or vice versa) without converting via .
- Including the air-column when it’s a few Pa and the rest of the path is kPa.
- Using object density in the buoyancy formula.
- In hydrometer / floating-body questions, using total volume instead of submerged volume.
- Skipping the unit check on the final answer.
Mini self-test
Try these without notes. Ten minutes total.
- A fluid has . Compute and .
- A horizontal plate area slides at over a stationary surface separated by a oil film (). Find the drag force.
- A U-tube manometer connects two air containers. Mercury column height difference . What is ?
- A wooden block () floats in fresh water. What fraction of its volume is submerged?
Answers:
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| 1 | ; |
| 2 | ; |
| 3 | $ |
| 4 | Submerged fraction |
Done checklist
- Read the cheatsheet tables.
- Tutorial Ex 4 worked by hand.
- Cheatsheet quiz attempted.
- Mini self-test attempted.
- Lab brief / worksheet re-read; calculator, pen, worksheet ready for the lab session.
That’s it. Close the laptop.
Source files used
EGD102-Physics/Lecture8_CTP1.pdfEGD102-Physics/EGD102 - Lecture8 - Notes.pdfEGD102-Physics/Tutorial 8.pdfEGD102-Physics/Tutorial 8_Solutions.pdf