Sunday, March 13, 2011

On Densities and Archimedes' Principle

March 11, 2011; 8:30-11:30; NIP R108

This meeting marked the day of our special project wherein we decided to perform an experiment on fluid mechanics, specifically an experiment goaled at measuring the mass of a lemon and a block of wood by noting the buoyant force they give when immersed in three different liquids, namely, water, alcohol and cooking oil.

The first thing that was done was to measure 100 mL of each liquid in each beaker and noting the mass that the liquid contributed. The mass divided by 100 mL constituted the density of the liquid. After which, we measured the theoretical masses of the lemon and block of wood. Then, we immersed the two objects in each medium. We noted the volume of liquid displaced and multiplied it by the calculated density of the fluid. This was the density of the object at hand.

Archimedes' principle states that when an object is fully or partially immersed in a fluid, the fluid exerts an upward force equivalent to the object's weight. This principle served as the basis for our experiment, and we actually tried
to immerse three different objects, the other one being a chunk of styrofoam. Unfortunately, the styrofoam was too light to exhibit a nonnegligible volume of liquid displaced. We needed more precise measuring tools.

I had a very hard time speaking this meeting because of two big canker sores in my mouth, which caused me to be really uncomfortable the whole meeting, actually the whole day. Apart from that, it was also during this meeting that Mac and I were reunited with Peter. The three of us were quite efficient as a group, each member having a definite role to perform.

Admittedly, I was really confused with the concept at first, since fluid mechanics isn't (and I think never will be) my forte. Still, I performed my part and got it all together in the end. The experiment was smooth sailing and we finished ahead of time.

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