previous    next

Vertical motion

Buoyant force


So, we must add an extra force, the buoyant force, to the formula which we obtained previously. Assuming that the total body of volume V is submerged in the fluid and that m=Vρs we then get

ma   =  -mg + FArchimedes + C1rv + C2r2v2
   
ma  =  -Vρsg + Vρfluidg + C1rv + C2r2v2
   
ma  =  -mg(ρsfluid)/ρs + C1rv + C2r2v2


We seem to may account for the buoyant force by substituting in the old expression g by g(ρsfluid)/ρs.

For solid objects with densities equal or larger than the density of water ρwater=1.0×103 kg/m3, we are dealing with errors of one promille or less if we do not take into account the density of air of about 1 kg/m3. However, for solid metal spheres in water the error would be some ten percent or more, hence non-negligible.


so far