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A bizarre application of Archimedes' law

Article  in  Physics Education · March 2007

DOI: 10.1088/0031-9120/42/2/009

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Concetto Gianino
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A bizarre application of
Archimedes’ law
Concetto Gianino
Istituto di Istruzione Secondaria Superiore ‘Q Cataudella’ di Scicli (RG), Italy
Abstract
We describe an experimental set-up that is very easy to construct but which
produces an unusual phenomenon which verifies Archimedes’ law for gas.
Introduction
Archimedes is thought to have discovered the
law of flotation in water while he was taking a
bath; when he realized the significance of the
effect of his body entering the water he ran out
into the street while still wet and naked shouting
‘eureka!’ (‘I find!’). We don’t know whether
this is what actually happened, but we do know
that he had understood that: ‘a body immersed in
water receives a buoyancy which is equal to the
weight of the fluid displaced by the body’. Today
‘water’ has been replaced with the more generic
term ‘fluid’ and we now know that Archimedes’
law also applies to gases. Examples of this are
provided by toy balloons filled with helium and
hot-air balloons. In practice, for a body to ‘float’
it must have a lower density than the medium in
which it is immersed.
Described below is an experimental set-
up that is very easy to construct but which
produces an unusual phenomenon which verifies
Archimedes’ law for gas. The aim is to float
several toy balloons in a saturated environment of
carbon dioxide (CO2 ). Carbon dioxide has been
chosen for two reasons: it has a greater density,
with a molecular weight of 44 g mol−1 , than air
(29 g mol−1 ) and it is also easy to obtain.
Theoretical estimate
If we dip an inflated toy balloon of volume V in
a saturated environment of carbon dioxide with a
density ρC , the balloon will receive a total lift that
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is equal to
F = FA − P = ρC gV − P (1)
which is the difference between Archimedes’
buoyant force FA and his weight P . The latter will
be equal to the sum of the weight PR of the rubber
sheath of the balloon and the weight PA of the air
which it contains:
P = PR + PA . (2)
Therefore a positive value or zero for the total
lift (1) indicates that the toy balloon will float;
otherwise the weight will overcome Archimedes’
buoyancy and the toy balloon will descend. In
the first rough estimate, we consider a toy balloon
that is perfectly spherical, of radius r , full of air
with a density ρA and the rubber having a mass m .
Using these assumptions in (1) and exploiting the
relationship (2), we get
F = ρC gV − PR − PA
   
= ρC g 43 πr 3 − mg − ρA g 43 πr 3
= g[ 43 π(ρC − ρA )r 3 − m]. (3)
From the relationship (3) it emerges that the total
lift depends:
• on the difference between the densities of
carbon dioxide and air; this parameter cannot
easily be changed, so the environment
containing the balloon needs to be saturated
with carbon dioxide to provide the maximum
buoyancy;
PHYSICS EDUCATION 42 (2) 185
C Gianino

0.08 16

14
0.06
12

10
0.04

r0 (cm)
F (N)

8
0.02
6

4
0
2

–0.02 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
r (cm) m (g)

Figure 1. Diagram of the total lift on a spherical toy Figure 2. Limiting radius r0 necessary for an air-filled
balloon of radius r and mass of rubber sheath equal to toy balloon to float, where the rubber sheath has mass
1.7 g, full of air and immersed in a saturated m. See formula (4) in the text.
environment of CO2. The total lift is directly upward
if the radius of the toy balloon is greater than or equal
to 8.3 cm.

30
• on the mass of the rubber and the radius of 25
the toy balloon. 20
15
The mathematical relationship between the 10
total lift and the radius of the toy balloon allows 5
F (mN)

us to confirm that on increasing the radius, the

0
0.5 g
force increases and therefore there will be a value
–5
of the radius for which the force is zero. Figure 1 1.0 g
–10
shows this functional relationship, for which the 1.5 g
–15
following values have been assigned to the other 2.0 g
–20
parameters in equation (3): the acceleration of 2.5 g
5.0 g 6.0 g 7.0 g
gravity g = 9.8 m s−2 , the densities under normal –25 3.0 g 3.5 g 4.0 g 4.5 g 5.5 g 6.5 g

conditions of carbon dioxide ρC = 2.0 kg m−3 and –30

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
of air ρA = 1.3 kg m−3 and the rubber sheath mass
r (cm)
m = 1.7 g of the toy balloon.
From the graph shown in figure 1, it is seen Figure 3. Diagram of the total lift, in mN, as a function
that: if the radius of the toy balloon remains of the radius of the toy balloon, for different values of
the mass of the rubber sheath.
smaller than a limiting value r0 of around 8.3 cm,
the total lift on the toy balloon will be directly
downwards and it will not float, while if its radius formula: 
is greater than or equal to r0 it will float in the
3m
carbon dioxide. r0 = 3
. (4)
4π(ρC − ρA )
The limiting radius r0 depends on the mass of
the rubber sheath of the toy balloon, and it can be If the mass of the balloon rubber is increased,
obtained by inserting the condition that F = 0 the limiting radius r0 which is necessary for the
in (3), with the following simple mathematical balloon to float also has to increase. Figure 2

186 PHYSICS EDUCATION March 2007


Figure 4. Carbon dioxide sprayed inside the box from
a CO2 fire extinguisher.
Figure 5. Toy balloons full of air inside a saturated box
of CO2 . The total weight of the toy balloon is indicated
in red and Archimedes’ force in green. Note how the
toy balloons that displace more volume receive a
greater buoyancy.
shows the mathematical relationship (4) while
figure 3 shows the total lift (3), expressed in mN, in
operation for the radius of the toy balloon for
different values of the mass of the rubber sheath.
To carry out the experiment it is necessary to
choose toy balloons of rubber mass which are as
small as possible but which are strong enough to
be inflated to the size required.
The analysis shown is an approximation of
the real model, because once the toy balloons are
inflated it is difficult for them to achieve pure
spherical shapes, which allows us to individualize
the necessary parameters to make the toy balloon
float in a saturated environment of CO2 .
Experimental verification
The theoretical calculations were verified by
constructing a completely airtight 60 cm cubic box
March 2007
A bizarre application of Archimedes’ law
Figure 6. The toy balloons keep on floating even if the
box is open. The carbon dioxide remains inside the
box.
Figure 7. Close-up of the box open with the toy
balloons afloat.
with a wooden frame and Plexiglas walls. The
construction of the box can be quite simple but it
must be airtight, so the Plexiglas walls should be
sealed to the wooden frame with silicone and the
lid should have a rubber seal to ensure an airtight
fit. It is also a good idea to add a hook to the
top of the lid to make opening and closing the box
easier.
The gas from a carbon dioxide fire extin-
guisher was sprayed, very slowly (figure 4), inside
the box so that the interior was saturated. Four
balloons of the same mass but inflated to different
sizes were then put inside the box.
The result of the experiment is shown in
figure 5. From this it can be seen that the smallest
balloons do not float and tend to remain at the
PHYSICS EDUCATION 187
 C Gianino
bottom of the box, while the larger ones have the
necessary buoyancy to ‘float’.
It is interesting to note that the phenomenon
can last for over an hour even when the box is
open (figures 6 and 7). As the carbon dioxide
has a greater molecular weight than air this gives
it a greater density, which means that it tends to
remain at the bottom of the box. Only the carbon
dioxide that is near the top opening diffuses into
the surrounding air, reducing the carbon dioxide
concentration inside the box.
This experiment, when shown to students who
are unaware that it is carbon dioxide inside the box,
causes some surprise and it is a useful exercise
to ask students to suggest explanations for the
behaviour of the balloons.
188 PHYSICS EDUCATION
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Acknowledgments
I wish to thank Mr Angelo Budello and Mr Enzo
Bonincontro, who helped me to create the device,
and Erica Criscione who helped me with the
language translation, from Italian to English, of the
article.
Received 21 June 2006, in final form 31 July 2006
doi:10.1088/0031-9120/42/2/009
Concetto Gianino graduated in physics
in 1991 and has since taught in the
superior secondary schools. Since 1997
he has taught physics in an experimental
scientific high school and worked on
projects in collaboration with the
Departments of Physics of Catania and
Udine, and with the INFN at Catania. He
has written two books on the theory of
measurement.
March 2007