Final answer:
To determine the absolute pressure at the bottom of a container filled with two fluids of different densities, calculate the pressure each fluid exerts based on its density and depth, then add these to the atmospheric pressure.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student asks how to determine the absolute pressure at the bottom of a container filled with two fluids of different specific gravities. To calculate this, one must consider both the pressure contributed by the weight of each fluid and the atmospheric pressure. The pressure from a fluid is calculated as the product of the fluid's density, gravitational acceleration, and depth.
Since specific gravity is the ratio of the density of a substance to the density of water, and knowing that the density of water at 4°C is approximately 1000 kg/m³, we can find each fluid's density. Corn syrup has a specific gravity of 1.400, thus its density is 1400 kg/m³. Vehicle gasoline has a specific gravity of 0.737, therefore its density is 737 kg/m³. We use these densities to calculate the pressures exerted by each fluid at the bottom.
Pressure due to corn syrup: Pcorn syrup = density * g * depth = 1400 kg/m³ * 9.81 m/s² * 0.85 m
Pressure due to gasoline: Pgasoline = density * g * depth = 737 kg/m³ * 9.81 m/s² * 0.69 m
The total pressure at the bottom of the container is the sum of the atmospheric pressure, the pressure due to corn syrup, and the pressure due to gasoline:
Total pressure: Ptotal = Patm + Pcorn syrup + Pgasoline
Assuming standard atmospheric pressure is 101325 Pa (1 atm), we then add the calculated pressures from above to find the absolute pressure.