by peterpan

Created on: April 29, 2008   Last Updated: May 05, 2008

Behind everything that happens around us lie principles that were discovered centuries ago. As human knowledge reaches its peek, almost every action has a scientific explanation just to satisfy man's curiosity. These principles are then applied in everyday life to lighten workloads and as well as to explain every single phenomenon. One of the principles that had contributed in modern technology is the Bernoulli's Principle.

It was in the 18th century that a scientist named Daniel Bernoulli discovered that an increase in fluid (referring to both gas and liquid) velocity would cause a decrease in pressure as well as a decrease in air velocity would increase in pressure. The principle has contributed much in fluid dynamics in explaining liquid movement (incompressible flow) as well as gas movement (compressible flow).

This principle can be well represented if a venture tube. The horizontal tube has wide and narrow sections to which a U-shaped tube is connected on each section. The increase in air velocity in the narrow part of the tube would cause a decrease in pressure on the part of the U-tube connected to it that would then cause the water to rise higher in that area than the water in the tube connected to the wider horizontal tube. This is because the increase in air velocity in the narrow part of the tube causes a decrease in pressure in the part of the U-tube connected to it that would cause the water level in that area to rise. The lower air velocity in the wider tube causes an increase in pressure in the U-tube connected to it that causes the lower level of water in the area.

BERNOULLI'S PRINCIPLE AND THE LAW OF CONSERVATION OF ENERGY

The decrease in pressure due to the increase in air velocity could be correlated with the principle of conservation of energy. This principle states that energy cannot be created nor destroyed such that energy would always remain constant. In Bernoulli's principle, the increase in kinetic energy as air passes through the narrow tube would be balanced by a decrease in pressure.

The amount of both the potential and kinetic energy remains constant as always. In a horizontal tube with constrictions, the energy is conserved since what would just dictate on which type of mechanical energy was greater is the velocity of fluid. A decrease in fluid velocity means that it has moved from an area of lower pressure to an area with higher pressure. The opposite applies in the fluid movement with high velocity fluids. Thus, in a horizontal tube,

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