Question

(a) How does the pressure of a liquid depend on its depth? Draw a labelled diagram to show that the pressure of a liquid (say, water) depends on its depth.

(b) Explain why, the walls of a dam are thicker near the bottom than at the top.

Answer 1

(a)
The pressure of a liquid is dependent on the depth because as the depth increases, the pressure exerted by the liquid also increases. This is because the weight of the liquid column pushing the liquid down increases which results in increased pressure.


(b)

The walls of the dam are thick at the bottom than at the top because as the depth increases, the pressure exerted by the water increases. To withstand this pressure the bottom of the dams have thicker walls.