Question

An open glass tube is immersed in mercury is such a way that a length of 8 cm extends above the mercury. The end of the tube is then closed and raised another 44 cm. How much of the tube will now contain air? The atmospheric pressure is 76 cm of mercury.

Answer 1

Answer: h2 = 15.4cm.

Explanation:

Application of the Boyle-Mariotte law gives us

l1P = h2(P + h2 - l),

where l1 is the initial length extending above the mercury, l is the final length of the tube extending above the mercury in the vessel, h2 is the length of tube occupied by the air, and P is the atmospheric pressure.