If it is 50 meters high, the pressure is the weight of a one meter square column 50 meters high.
Water density is about 1000 Kilograms/ cubic meter
So the mass of this column is 1000 Kg/m^3 * 50 m * g
or
1000 * 50 * 9.81 = 490,500 Newtons
that weight is spread out over the one square meter of base so the pressure is
490,500 Newtons per square meter
A newton per square meter is called a "Pascal"
so we have
4.9*10^5 Pascals
by the way atmospheric pressure is about 1 * 10^5 Pascals so indeed we might as well ignore it. An atmosphere is about 33 feet or 10 meters of water so we have about 5 atmospheres here. If we did account for the atmophere we would say about 6 atm
Where do I start?
Calculate the water pressure at the bottom of the 50-m {\rm m}-high water tower shown in the photo.
Express your answer to two significant figures and include the appropriate units.
The question says to neglect the pressure due to atmosphere when doing my calculations. But I don't see how I can figure this out with only one number given ?
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