Question

Car crashes that result in the car being submerged underwater are particularly terrifying! Consider a situation where a drunk driver’s car goes off the road and ends up under 3.00 m (approximately 10 feet) of water. To simplify the analysis, we shall ignore the effect of depth variations at different parts of the car, and assume that the car’s windows are rolled up.

a. What is the pressure difference between the exterior and interior of the car at this depth?

b. What is the force exerted on the driver’s car door? The car door has an area of 0.60 m2 .

c. To put this force in perspective, calculate the mass you would have to lift to generate an equivalent force.

d. The car has now filled with water (and the driver can somehow still breathe for the moment), what is the pressure difference across the door? e. Now that the car is full of water, is it easier or more difficult to open the door from the inside? Why?

Answer 1