Question

The Aswan High Dam is 111 m high. What is the water pressure at the foot of the dam?

Answer 1

1.09 · 10⁶ Pa

Step-by-step explanation

The pressure of a fluid of density ρ, at a depth h is:

`p=\rho\cdot h\cdot g`

Where g is the acceleration of gravity.

In this problem we have h = 111 m, the fluid is water so its density is ρ = 1000 kg/m³ and we can use for the gravity g = 9.8 m/s². The pressure at the foot of the dam is:

`\begin{gathered} p=1000(kg)/(m^3)\cdot111m\cdot9.8(m)/(s^2) \\ p=1087800\cdot(kg)/(m\cdot s^2)=1087800Pa \end{gathered}`

We can rewrite this in scientific notation for better undestanding:

`p=1.09\cdot10^6\text{ Pa}`