In the field of engineering a ‘water model’ is often used to explain electricity

Question

In the field of engineering a ‘water model’ is often used to explain electricity, with pressure replacing potential and volumetric flow rate replacing current. Answer the following: Explain all answers & show all work.

a) What is volumetric flow rate and what are its units in both SI and English units?

b) in the water model above what are the SI units of volumetric current density. (Take note of its units)

c) If you double the hole size (of a leak) in a big tank what happens to the volumetric flow rate of the leak?

Explanation / Answer

a) In simple words as the name suggests, Volume flow rate is the volume of fluid passing through a cross sectional area per unit time. This area can be of any shape. It is usually denoted as "Q". As per the definition it is given by

Q = V/t where V - Volume and t - time

The S.I units for "Q" is m3/s ( where m3 is for volume and t is for seconds). In English units, just replace "m" with "ft". So it becomes ft3/s. Sometime Q is also given as A*V where A is area and V is velocity.

b) The units of Volume current density are given as current/area which is equal to Amps/m2.

c) As we know that Q = A*V , if there is an increase in the area, Q will increase as they are directly related.

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