Question

Mercury is poured into a U-tube as shown in Figure a. The left arm of the tube has cross-sectional area A₁ of 11.0 cm², and the right arm has a cross-sectional area A₂ of 4.90 cm². One hundred grams of water are then poured into the right arm as shown in Figure b.

Figure (a) shows a U-shaped tube filled with mercury. Both arms of the U-shaped tube are vertical. The left arm with cross-sectional area A₁ is wider than the right arm with cross-sectional area A₂. The height of the mercury is the same in both arms. Figure (b) shows the same U-shaped tube, but now most of the right arm is filled with water. The height of the column of water in the right arm is much greater than the height of the column of mercury in the left arm. The height of the mercury in the left arm is greater than the height of the mercury in the arms in Figure (a), and the difference in height is labeled h.

(a) Determine the length of the water column in the right arm of the U-tube.
cm

(b) Given that the density of mercury is 13.6 g/cm³, what distance h does the mercury rise in the left arm?

Answer 1