An air bubble of radius is observed at a depth of below the free surface of a liquid having surface tension and density . The difference between pressure inside the bubble and atmospheric pressure is:
Given .
- A
- B
- C
- D
An air bubble of radius is observed at a depth of below the free surface of a liquid having surface tension and density . The difference between pressure inside the bubble and atmospheric pressure is:
Given .
Correct answer:A
Standard Method
Given: radius of bubble , depth , surface tension , density , and .
Find: the difference between pressure inside the bubble and atmospheric pressure.
An air bubble inside a liquid has excess pressure due to surface tension, and since it is at depth , hydrostatic pressure also contributes.
First, hydrostatic pressure at depth is
So,
For an air bubble in a liquid, the excess pressure due to surface tension is
Thus,
Therefore, pressure inside the bubble above atmospheric pressure is
Therefore, the pressure difference is and the correct option is A.
Using bubble pressure relation and depth pressure
Given: , , , , .
Find: .
At depth , the pressure just outside the bubble is
For an air bubble, inside pressure exceeds outside pressure by
Hence,
Substituting the values,
So, the required pressure difference is .
Note: another approach shown in the solution uses and still concludes , but numerically would give . For an air bubble in a liquid, the correct excess pressure is , which matches option A.
Using instead of for an air bubble in a liquid. is for a soap bubble with two surfaces; here there is only one liquid-air interface, so use .
Ignoring hydrostatic pressure . The bubble is at a depth of , so pressure outside the bubble is greater than atmospheric pressure by .
Not converting units properly. Radius must be written as , and depth must be written as before substitution.
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