Buoyancy 101

Aim: The following experiment is to check and determine whether a rise in water

density would cause a boat hull to sink deeper in the water to an observable degree
as its temperature is elevated from 5 degrees C to 95 degrees C.

Theory: This showed that increasing water temperature allows water molecules to

move further out, decreasing upthrust in turn, and causing more water to be
displaced by a floating mass as its buoyancy is decreased. If the water molecules
spread outward due to high temperature, a large rise in water temperature can
produce a noticeable difference in the water’s surface or even a small floating-point

Requirements: 10 Identical Styrene Model Boats, 128 grams of steel, and a Digital
Thermometer