Halliday, Resnick & Walker — Fluids: Problem Problem_90

Boston molasses disaster. On January 15, 1919, a vat of molasses in Boston's North End burst. A wave of molasses with height 10 m sped through the streets at 16 m/s (about 35 mi/h), killing 21 people and resulting in great property damage (Fig. 14.41). The vat was 15 m high, 27 m in diameter, and held \(2.3 \times 10^6\) U.S. gal of molasses. In the vat's hasty construction, its soundness had been tested only with water 0.150 m deep. What was the pressure on its wall at the base (a) during the test and (b) when filled with molasses with density \(1.42 \times 10^3 \text{ kg/m}^3\)?