Physics Design - Leaky Bucket

If a bucket is filled with water to a certain height and a hole is made at any height on the bucket, the water will squirt out to a certain distance, depending on the pressure it is at in the bucket. Pressure is the ratio of force applied to the area on which it is applied.

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If the pressure at which the water comes through the hole is to be equal to the pressure on all other points at that point, it will come through with a larger force than is put on the walls of the bucket.

This force will push the water to a certain distance, which will be measured.

Depth of hole in the bucket Independent The pressure of the water on the bucket is different at different depths, thus affecting the distance to which water is squirted. Punching several holes at different depths on the same bucket can vary the depth of water. Area of each hole Controlled Pressure is the ratio of force applied to the area on which it is applied. If the area of each hole is not equal, the distance to which the water is squirted will show anomalous variations as for a larger hole, the force with which it is pushed out will be less and vice versa.

This may affect the horizontal distance the water will reach, as air resistance will increase with increase in height above the ground. Method 1. Take six identical plastic buckets of height 40 cm. Mark the 35 cm level on each bucket.

Use a previously drawn stencil to mark holes to be punched in each bucket. Draw these holes at heights 30 cm, 25 cm, 20 cm, 15 cm, 10 cm and 5 cm on each bucket respectively. 2. Carve out the holes using a knife. They could also be melted out. Care must be taken to ensure that the holes are of equal area, and preferably not too large in diameter.

3. Take one bucket at a time, and place it on a stool. Use a small stool to keep the bucket at a certain height. Place the stool at one end of a large trough and fasten it down at that point using weights or tape. 4. Fasten three metre rulers from the edge of the stool to the end of the trough, exactly parallel to each other. Place a large sheet of tissue-like paper on top of the rulers, so it is easy to read where the water has fallen.

5. Block the hole, and fill the water up to the 35 cm mark. Unblock the hole, and observe where the water has fallen. Try to mark the point before the capillary action of the tissue paper carries the water further than it is squirted. Also, thee furthest point must be marked to get the distance squirted when the pressure is roughly equal to the pressure on the walls of the bucket. This would, however cause a random error to be added due to error in human judgement. 6. Dry out the trough thoroughly and repeat for each bucket. Change the sheet of tissue like paper for each repeat to ensure more accurate results.

The data collected would be in the form of a table such as this: The depth can then be plotted against the average of the two trials of the distance squirted on a graph to obtain a trend. It should show an increasing trend, as water pressure increases as depth increases and therefore this increasing pressure applied on the same small area of the hole pushes the water through with increasing force. As the force increases, the mass of water squirted remains the same as the area of the hole is the same, but acceleration increases. Therefore the distance it is pushed increases. However it is not certain whether this will be a linear or exponential increase as we do not know how the pressure varies with the depth of a bucket.