THE PRACTICE STUDIO
Go slowly. Ask why. Make it yours.
PRACTICE / Stokes law
A larger sphere falls through syrup
Two spheres of the same dense material fall in the same viscous fluid in the Stokes regime. One has three times the other’s radius.
Find the ratio of the larger sphere’s terminal speed to the smaller one’s.
Organize the givens & assumptions
- Rlarge = 3Rsmall
- same densities and viscosity
Dense rigid spheres, same material and fluid; creeping Stokes flow, negligible wall effects and terminal steady speed.
- A
- B
- C
- D
Try it on paper first. Free sample problems in every collection include the complete reasoning: find one in this collection →