Archimedes’ Principle Purpose An application of the Archimedes Principle to determine the density of rocks. Materials Triple beam or spring balance, rock samples. Introduction When an object is weighed in a fluid, the object experiences a buoyant force of the fluid and weighs less in the fluid than in air, The cause of the buoyancy is the fact that the pressure of the fluid increases with depth. The bottom of the object is pushed up by the fluid with a greater force than it is pressed down from the top. Archimedes Principle states ‘The amount of buoyant force on a body immersed in a fluid is the same as the weight of the fluid displaced by the object. For example, if an object having a mass of 50 kg were found to weigh 30 kg in water, then the buoyant force is equivalent to 50 kg ~ 30 kg = 20 kg, which is the same as the weight of the displaced water, according to the Archimedes Principle. Notice here that mass and weight are not clearly distinguished. Strictly speaking, 50 kg x g - 30 kg x g = 20 kg x g, where g is, the gravitational acceleration of 9.8 kg - m/ s?. As g will cancel out at the end, it will be dropped from the start. Water has a very convenient property in that 1 gram of water occupies a volume of 1 em. In this example, the amount of displaced water 20,000 g (20 kg) has a ‘volume of 20,000 cm? and, therefore, the volume of the submerged object is also 20,000 cm3. The density of the object is mass / volume = 50,000 g / 20,000 em3 = 2.5 g/cm? Archemedes' Principle 23