Physics - Fluid Statics - College Physics

Name: Physics - Fluid Statics - College Physics
Rating: 4.5 (3 reviews)

Master fluid statics with density, pressure, Pascal's principle, buoyancy, and Archimedes' principle

Created byCorey Mousseau

Last updated 6/2026

English

English [Auto],

What you'll learn

Understand density, specific gravity, and the key properties of fluids at rest.
Solve pressure problems involving depth, gauge pressure, absolute pressure, and fluids at rest.
Apply Pascal's principle to hydraulic systems and pressure transmission.
Use Archimedes' principle to solve buoyancy problems with floating and submerged objects.

Course content

4 sections • 24 lectures • 2h 14m total length

1 - Introduction to Fluid Statics1:59
This opening lesson introduces the fluid statics unit and sets up the main ideas students will use throughout the course: density, pressure, buoyancy, and organized problem solving.

2 - Fluid Physics - States of Matter8:08
An overview of the states of matter—solids, liquids, gases, and plasmas—and how their molecular structure governs flow, compressibility, and volume in fluids.
3 - Fluid Physics - Density7:37
Explore density and specific gravity as mass per unit volume, with common units. Density stays constant when mass and volume scale; water is 1000 kg/m^3 (1 g/cm^3) at 4 C.
4 - Fluid Physics - Specific Gravity3:34
Define specific gravity as the ratio of an object's density to water at four degrees Celsius, not the density itself, and use it to compare aluminum 2.7 and gold 19.3.
5 - Fluid Physics - Density and Temperature7:25
Increase temperature, and most materials expand and density falls; however water peaks in density at four degrees Celsius because of its polar molecules.
6 - Fluid Physics - Density Example Problems8:57
7 - Fluid Physics - Specific Gravity Example Problems2:32
Explore specific gravity as a density ratio to water and predict sinking or floating, with example problems using densities in kg/m^3 for copper, aluminum, balsa, oak, and mercury.

8 - Fluid Physics - Pressure5:40
9 - Fluid Physics - Pressure Example Problem3:49
10 - Fluid Physics - Pressure in Fluids3:37
11 - Fluid Physics - Pressure with Depth5:40
12 - Fluid Physics - Pressure Example Problems6:34
The lecture explains how to compute pressure at depth in freshwater and seawater, showing how density and depth raise pressure in pascals, and how area affects pressure.
13 - Fluid Physics - Atmospheric and Gauge Pressure5:34
Describe atmospheric pressure as the weight of air on surfaces, noting sea level around 100,000 pascals and variation with altitude, and define gauge versus total pressure with rho g h.
14 - Fluid Physics - Gauges4:50
Explore gauges for measuring pressure, focusing on the mercury barometer and open manometer. Learn how atmospheric pressure and both gauge pressure and absolute pressure are inferred from fluid height differences.
15 - Fluid Physics - Pascal's Principle2:39
Pascal's principle states that external pressure applied to a confined fluid raises pressure at every point, as seen in a toothpaste tube, an inflated balloon, and hydraulic brakes.
16 - Fluid Physics - Pascal's Principle Example Problem3:12
Explore Pascal's principle in a confined incompressible fluid using a hydraulic lift to lift a heavy load via input force and area ratios between 2 cm and 2 mm pistons.
17 - Atmospheric Pressure and Gauge Pressure Example Problems14:09
Apply Pascal's principle to hydraulic problems, converting gauge to absolute pressure with atmospheric pressure, and using pressure equality to relate forces and piston areas to lift a car.

18 - Fluid Physics - Buoyancy and Archimedes' Principle4:59
This lecture explains buoyancy through Archimedes' principle, showing how pressure increases with depth, creating an upward buoyant force from the top and bottom surface differences.
19 - Fluid Physics - Applying Newton's 2nd to Buoyancy5:16
Apply Newton's second law to a submerged object by balancing buoyant force, weight, and tension to reveal apparent weight and the normal force.
20 - Fluid Physics - Buoyancy Quantified4:52
21 - Fluid Physics - Archimedes Principle2:36
Archimedes principle states that the buoyant force on an object equals the weight of the displaced fluid. Buoyancy depends on the object's volume and the fluid's density.
22 - Fluid Physics - Buoyancy, Density, and Specific Gravity7:32
23 - Buoyancy and Archimedes Principle Example Problems11:19
Demonstrate buoyancy and Archimedes principle with solved examples: compare buoyant forces on submerged objects of equal volume, apply density and specific gravity, and analyze floating and tension scenarios.
Course Map: AP Physics 1 and AP Physics 21:35

Requirements

Basic algebra and comfort rearranging equations. No calculus is required for this course.

Description

This course is one of several Mousseau Physics courses designed for students in high school physics, AP Physics, and introductory college physics. In this course we focus on fluid statics, which is the physics of fluids at rest. Students will study density, pressure, gauge pressure, absolute pressure, pressure variation with depth, Pascal's principle, hydraulic systems, buoyant force, and Archimedes' principle.

The videos and resources include clear lectures, demonstrations, simulations, and worked out example problems. Students will practice choosing the right model, organizing known values, using units carefully, and connecting equations to physical situations involving liquids, gases, floating objects, submerged objects, and pressure changes. The course emphasizes both conceptual understanding and algebra based problem solving.

This course is a strong fit for high school physics students, AP Physics students, and introductory college physics students working through fluids. It does not require calculus. Students who have seen pressure and buoyancy before but still feel unsure can use the course to slow down, rebuild the core ideas, and practice problems step by step.

By the end of the course, students should be more comfortable explaining why pressure changes with depth, how hydraulic systems multiply force, why objects float or sink, and how to solve fluid statics problems in a structured way. It also provides a useful foundation for fluid dynamics, where the course shifts from fluids at rest to fluids in motion.

Students can work straight through the course as a full unit or use individual lessons as targeted support alongside a class. The videos are built to be paused, rewound, and practiced with pencil and paper, so the course works well for homework help, test review, exam preparation, or rebuilding a topic that did not fully click the first time.

Who this course is for:

Any student interested in learning more about Fluid Physics.

Physics - Fluid Statics - College Physics

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Introduction1 lecture • 2min

Density and Specific Gravity6 lectures • 38min

Pressure and Pascal's Principle10 lectures • 56min

Buoyancy and Archimedes' Principle7 lectures • 38min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: