1.

If you push both a pin and a barbecue stick against your skin with equal force,
which do you think will cut your skin first, the pin or stick? Decide what determines
whether your skin suffers a cut- the net force applied to it or the pressure. Support
your answer.

-Pressure is what matters when it comes to pushing things against your skin...I'm assuming that the end of the pin is
much sharper than the end of the stick, thus will have a very small area. The equation for pressure is P = F/A, where
F is the force applied (constant) and A is the area. Since the pin point's area is extremely small, the pressure ends up
being extremely large and is enough to push through your skin.
The same principle works for sitting on a bed of nails - even though the nails are sharp, the force is distributed across
your whole body so there is not enough pressure against your skin to puncture it.
To kind of put this in perspective, imagine how much force it would take to break the skin just by pushing on it with
your hand (large area), and how little force you need to push a pin through.

2. Why is it easier to float in seawater than in fresh water?

-If youve ever floated in the ocean, you may have noticed that its much easier to do so than it is to keep afloat in a
swimming pool. If you had to guess why thats the case, what would you say? The answer is just one word-Salt.
When salt is dissolved in water, as it is in ocean water, the dissolved salt adds to the mass of the water and makes the
water denser than it would be without salt. Because objects float better on a dense surface, they float better on salt
water than fresh water. The denser the salt water, the easier it is for objects to float on top of it. You could make a
science fair project out of concept by measuring different amounts of salt into a specific amount of water and testing
how well different objects float.

3. Why does the density of the atmosphere decrease with height?

-W = mg; where W = weight of the air, m = mass of the air, and g = 9.81 m/sec^2 acceleration due to gravity at
Earth's surface.
m = rho V; where rho = air density and V = the volume of air. V = A h; where A = cross sectional area of a column of
air h high.
rho = m/V = W/(Vg) = W/(A h g) = P/(h g); where P = W/A = atmospheric pressure
Thus we see that, at a given atmospheric pressure (P) the density of the atmosphere (rho) decreases as h (the height
of a column of air) gets bigger.
In ordinary words, the density of air decreases with height because there is less and less air piled on top of the
atmosphere with increasing height. Thus, there is less air to push the air molecules close together at higher
heights...and density is a measure of closeness.

4. Why can you carry a person more easily in a swimming pool than on land?

-It is easier to carry a person in a pool or any body of water for that matter because the density of our body is about
the same as water surrounding us. An object will float if its density (mass/volume) is less than that of water, and sink it
is more.
On land, our bodies are much more dense than the air surrounding us. That is why we stay grounded and dont float
up like helium filled balloon which is much less dense than air.

5. Is it possible to change the physical characteristics of a substance by subjecting it

to extremely high pressure? Why?

-Yes, physical and sometimes even chemical characteristics can be changed by subjecting a substance to high
pressure. Physical properties like state of substance, melting and boiling point, density, solubility etc can be changed
by applying pressure. A gas below its critical temperature can be liquefied by pressure without cooling any further.
Gases dissolve better in solvents when pressure on the surface of solvent is more( here pressure refers to pressure
exerted by that gas). You can see a cola bottle.when we open the bottle pressure decreases and carbon dioxide
bubbles out. Melting point of ice decreases and boiling point of water increases (think of use of pressure cookers) with
rise in pressure.
And yes chemical reactions are also affected by change in pressure especially those involving gases. Production of
Ammonia is favoured at high pressure.

Project
In
PHYICS
Submitted by:

Mohd Amerhussein T. Angin

Submitted to:

Mrs. Jamelah Monarizah Bacaro-Masacal