The bigger you are, the hotter you fall

A small sphere falls from rest in a viscous fluid. Due to viscous friction, heat is produced as the sphere moves relative to the fluid. The rate of heat production at terminal velocity is directly proportional to the n th n^{\textrm{th}} power of the sphere's radius.

Use physical reasoning, scaling, dimensional analysis, or whatever tactics (apart from Google) you can think of to find n n .


The answer is 5.

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1 solution

Deepansh Mathur
Apr 23, 2014

Terminal Velocity V t = 2. r 2 . g . ( ρ s ρ L ) 9 η V_t = \frac {2.r^2.g.(\rho_s - \rho_L)}{9\eta}

and viscous force F = 6 π η . r . V T F = 6\pi\eta.r.V_T

Rate of production of heat(power) [due to viscous force]

d Q d t = F . V T = ( 6 π η . r . V T ) ( V T ) = 6 π η . r . V T 2 \Rightarrow \frac {dQ}{dt} = F.V_T = (6\pi\eta.r.V_T)(V_T) = 6\pi\eta.r.V_T^2

6 π η . r . 2. r 2 . g . ( ρ s ρ L ) 9 η 2 = 8 π . g 2 27 η ( ρ s ρ L ) 2 . r 5 \Rightarrow 6\pi\eta.r.{ \frac {2.r^2.g.(\rho_s - \rho_L)}{9\eta}}^2 = \frac{8\pi.g^2}{27\eta}(\rho_s - \rho_L)^2.r^5

d Q d t r 5 \Rightarrow \frac{dQ}{dt} \propto r^5

Same solution.Is there a way of explaining it without Stroke's law?I'm eager to know.

rajdeep brahma - 4 years, 2 months ago

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