Hydrostatics

Hydrostatics is defined as that branch of physics, which has to do with the pressure and equilibrium of water and other liquids. Liquids at rest present far simpler problems to solve than those of fluid dynamics, since individual fluid elements do not move relative to others in the fluid body, therefore shear forces are not involved and all pressure forces are normal to the fluid elements surfaces. Following the criteria that fluid elements should not move relative to one another, hydrostatics can be extended to systems of relative equilibrium , where elements have no relative motion although the body of liquid may be moving as a whole. The following will be briefly described: pressure variation in compressible and incompressible liquids; forces on planes; stability of floating and submerged bodies; relative equilibrium; and manometry.