A closed horizontal tube is completely filled with an incompressible liquid of density
ρL. A small ball of volume
V and density
ρB (where
ρB<ρL) is placed inside the tube. The ball is attached to the left end of the tube by a massless spring of spring constant
k, relaxed length
ℓ0, and negligible volume. The entire tube is then rotated in a horizontal plane with a constant angular velocity
ω about a vertical axis passing through its left end. Assuming the ball can slide without friction along the inside of the tube, what is its equilibrium distance
r from the axis of rotation?