8.4 Conservation in Fluids

Flow

At different places in the fluid, there may be different pressures exerted on the fluid. If there is a difference in pressure, this will cause the fluid to flow. Flow is defined as the amount of fluid traveling through a certain point per unit of time.

\frac{V}{t}=Av

${V}$ is the amount of volume of the fluid that travels through a certain point
${t}$ is the time interval over which the volume of fluid has traveled through the point
${A}$ is the cross-sectional area of the point that the fluid is trying to travel through
${v}$ is the speed of the water

In a pipe that fluid is flowing through, this rate of flow is constant at all points in the pipe. This idea is represented with the continuity equation. Note that the continuity equation only works if the fluid is ideal, as a compressible fluid can not be modeled by AP Physics 1 equations.

A_1v_1=A_2v_2

${A_1}$ is the cross-sectional area at some point in the pipe
${v_1}$ is the velocity of the fluid at some point in the pipe
${A_2}$ is the cross-sectional area at some other point in the pipe
${v_2}$ is the velocity of the fluid at some other point in the pipe

Flow

In this unit

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