Measuring Flow Rates with a Pitot Tube

A pitot tube is used to determine the velocity of a fluid flowing through a pipe. It works by using a manometer-like attachment to measure the difference in pressure between two points in a pipe, which makes it possible to determine the velocity of the fluid in the pipe using Bernoulli's equation. In this Demonstration, you can vary either the manometer fluid height or the velocity of the fluid in the pipe to see how these two variables are related. You can vary the density of the fluid in the manometer for appropriate ranges of fluid velocities and manometer heights. Note that the height and velocity scales are different for the two options.