A sphere is just immersed in a liquid. Find the ratio of hydrostatic force acting on top and bottom half of sphere.
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Quick 'n' dirty
Cut the sphere in top half and bottom half. On the cutting surface, the pressure in both directions is P = ρ g R , and the resulting vertical force is F i n = P A = π ρ g R 3 on each half sphere.
Call the total force on the outside of each half sphere F o u t , then the buoyant force F B = ± ( F o u t − F i n ) is equal to the weight of the displaced fluid. Since the displaced fluid has the shape of a half-sphere, we know that F B = m g = ρ V g = 3 2 π ρ g r 3 .
Thus F o u t = F i n ∓ F B = π ρ g R 3 ∓ 3 2 π ρ g R 3 = { 3 1 π ρ g R 3 3 5 π ρ g R 3 top bottom .
The ratio is obviously 3 5 π ρ g R 3 3 1 π ρ g R 3 = 5 1 = 0 . 2 .
Standard approach
Choose units in which the radius is 1, and ρ g = 1 .
Consider a surface element d A = cos θ d θ d ϕ , where θ is the "latitude" and ϕ the "longitude".
On this element acts a pressure P = ρ g y = 1 − sin θ . Since all horizontal force components cancel, we only consider the vertical force component, d F = P sin θ d A = ( 1 − sin θ ) sin θ cos θ d θ d ϕ . Integrate this over the half-sphere: F = ∫ 0 ± π / 2 ∫ 0 2 π d ϕ d θ ( 1 − sin θ ) sin θ cos θ = 2 π ∫ 0 ± π / 2 d θ ( sin θ cos θ − sin 2 θ cos θ ) . = 2 π ( ∫ 0 ± π / 2 2 1 sin 2 θ d θ − ∫ 0 ± π / 2 sin 2 θ d sin θ ) = 2 π ( [ − 4 1 cos 2 θ ] 0 ± π / 2 − [ 3 1 sin 3 θ ] 0 ± π / 2 ) = 2 π ( 2 1 ∓ 3 1 ) = 3 1 π ( top ) , 3 5 π ( bottom ) . Thus the ratio is 3 5 π 3 1 π = 5 1 = 0 . 2 .