The Bernoulli Principal: Blasters, Planes, and Hurricanes
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- Date Submitted: 10/18/2010 06:20 PM
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The Bernoulli Principal: Blasters, Planes, and Hurricanes
In 1738 a Dutch-Swiss mathematician by the name of Daniel Bernoulli published the relationship of a fluid’s pressure, speed, and potential energy. Bernoulli demonstrated that an increase in the speed of a fluid will result in a decrease of pressure or it’s potential energy. Though many non-physicians might find this relationship to be irrelevant to them; I want to prove them otherwise and show that if it weren’t for Bernoulli’s Principle our lives would be different, and to some much more complicated. The principles of fluid described by Bernoulli are actually quite simple to understand when we break it down into its basic form. The exhibit that I analyzed at the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum was titled “The Bernoulli Blast” and it did exactly that. It showed, in its most basic form, the concept behind these principles of pressure.
The exhibit is properly set up to facilitate the understanding of Bernoulli’s Principle. What we have before us is a long cylinder tube that lies on top of an aspirator pump. On both sides of the tube, there is an opening that allows high-pressurized air to enter the tube. At the bottom of the tube, there is another opening that enables us to slide our lightweight plastic ball through so that it now lies on top of the aspirator pump and within the tube. To operate the exhibit we must first place the ball in the proper launching location. Once the ball is placed in the tube, one must press the indicated button, this causes the device to channel air through an aspirator, which through a combination of the Bernoulli principals and the equation of continuity, this leads, the air through a narrower area and increases the speed of air and it lowers its air pressure. Because the ball is round, the low air pressure moves around the surface of the ball to the top of the ball creating a patch of lower air pressure above it. It is this that causes the ball to generate lift and be launched...
In 1738 a Dutch-Swiss mathematician by the name of Daniel Bernoulli published the relationship of a fluid’s pressure, speed, and potential energy. Bernoulli demonstrated that an increase in the speed of a fluid will result in a decrease of pressure or it’s potential energy. Though many non-physicians might find this relationship to be irrelevant to them; I want to prove them otherwise and show that if it weren’t for Bernoulli’s Principle our lives would be different, and to some much more complicated. The principles of fluid described by Bernoulli are actually quite simple to understand when we break it down into its basic form. The exhibit that I analyzed at the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum was titled “The Bernoulli Blast” and it did exactly that. It showed, in its most basic form, the concept behind these principles of pressure.
The exhibit is properly set up to facilitate the understanding of Bernoulli’s Principle. What we have before us is a long cylinder tube that lies on top of an aspirator pump. On both sides of the tube, there is an opening that allows high-pressurized air to enter the tube. At the bottom of the tube, there is another opening that enables us to slide our lightweight plastic ball through so that it now lies on top of the aspirator pump and within the tube. To operate the exhibit we must first place the ball in the proper launching location. Once the ball is placed in the tube, one must press the indicated button, this causes the device to channel air through an aspirator, which through a combination of the Bernoulli principals and the equation of continuity, this leads, the air through a narrower area and increases the speed of air and it lowers its air pressure. Because the ball is round, the low air pressure moves around the surface of the ball to the top of the ball creating a patch of lower air pressure above it. It is this that causes the ball to generate lift and be launched...