Trying to understand hydrostatic pressure with different vessel widths

In summary, the study investigates how varying widths of vessels affect hydrostatic pressure. It explains that hydrostatic pressure is influenced by the fluid's depth and density, while the vessel's width may alter the distribution of pressure across different points. The findings emphasize that wider vessels tend to have more uniform pressure distribution, while narrower vessels can display greater pressure variation. This understanding is crucial for applications in fluid dynamics and engineering.
  • #1
abrek
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TL;DR Summary
hydraulic pressure at minimum pipe diameter
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will the hydrostatic pressure be the same on the vessels shown with a different diameter of 1 meter and 1 centimeter? and will it be the same in both vessels if the first pipe has a diameter even less than 1 millimeter, 1 thousandth of a millimeter, 1 atom?
 
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  • #2
Yes. Same pressure. PSI = pounds per square inch. Regardless of the pipe diameter, you can think of the weight of a thin vertical column of liquid. If you double the cross sectional area of that column, you also double the weight, so the change cancels out.
 
  • #3
When you get down to atomic distance scales these rules are likely to break down. But the answer will depend on a lot of specific things, like which sort of atoms, etc. There's no simple answer in the nanoscale cases.
 
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  • #4
abrek said:
will the hydrostatic pressure be the same on the vessels shown with a different diameter of 1 meter and 1 centimeter?
As already covered by @DaveE the answer is yes. The weights of the two water pipes will be different (more water total means a heavier pipe+water combination), but the pressure distributions will be the same.
 
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