Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Density & buoyancy

Michael Adeleye, Ph.D, P.G. Dip.Ed.

 Objectives of this
lesson
1. To explore the relationship
between density and buoyancy.

2. To look at floating & sinking with

respect to density.
 Archimedes 'eureka' moments

Great ideas sometimes come when you

aren’t trying: Allowing the mind to
wander aids creativity - flashes of
inspiration!
 Historical background

• In a well-known tale sometime around 250 BC, the Greek

mathematician Archimedes was given the task of determining
whether a goldsmith had defrauded the King of Syracuse by
replacing some of the gold in the King’s crown with cheaper
alloy.
• Archimedes knew that the solution lies in determining the
density of the crown and comparing with that of pure gold, but
to do this he would have to determine the volume of the
irregularly shaped crown without crushing it.
• Baffled, Archimedes took a relaxing immersion bath and
observed from the rise of the warm water upon entering that he
could calculate the volume of the irregularly shaped gold crown
through the displacement of the water.
• Allegedly, upon this discovery, he went running naked through
the streets shouting, "Eureka! Eureka!" (Εύρηκα! Greek "I
found it"). As a result, the term "eureka" entered common
parlance and is used today to indicate a moment of
enlightenment.
 Archimedes observation

 The amount of water displaced was equal

in volume to the space that his body
occupied.

 He felt lighter while in the water.

 Conclusions from these observations

 Volume of an irregularly shaped body

could be found by displacement.

 Bodies immersed in fluids experiences

upthrust or buoyancy.
 Class discussion

Can anyone relate to

Archimedes’ experience?

Ever fetched water from the

well?
 Analysing drawing water from a well

W
U

1. Analysis of the forces acting on

bucket while in water and in air.

2. Bucket appears less heavy in

water due to upthrust.
 Archimedes principle
“When a body is wholly or partially
immersed in a fluid it experiences
an upthrust which is equal to the
weight of the fluid displaced”

Note:
(1) Fluid refers to liquid or gas.
(2) Archimedes principle can be
verified experimentally or deduced
theoretically.
 Discussion on
• The meaning of an upthrust in a
fluid.

• The origin of the upthrust acting

on a body in a fluid.
 Explanation
• Source of buoyant force – when
an object is placed in a fluid it
displaces or pushes out of its way
some of the fluid, this displaced
fluid pushes back on the object,
this is buoyant force.

• All objects in a fluid experiences

buoyant force.
 Condition for equilibrium
of bodies in fluids
• The forces acting on a solid body in a
liquid are weight, upthrust &
viscosity.
• (Assume viscosity is negligible)

• The body:
(i)Sink (W > U)
(ii)Rise (U > W) Solid

(iii)Float (U = W) W V U
 Law of floatation
“A floating body displaces its own
weight of the fluid in which it floats”

Note:
1. This follows from equilibrium of a
solid body floating in a fluid.
2. Floatation implies the solid body
is partially immersed.
 Mathematical proof of
Archimedes principle
Consider a rectangular solid completely
immersed in a liquid of density  e.g. water.
Resultant horizontal force = 0 (V = Ah, m = v)
Resultant vertical force = PA (P = F/A, P = gh)
FR = Fup - Fdown = gh2A - gh1A = vg = mg
Upthrust = weight of the liquid displaced. (Shikena!)

h1 Liquid
h2
Solid
l h
Buoyancy and Archimedes’ Principle

FR  F2  F1   F gA(h2  h1 )
  F gAh
  FVg
 mF g
 Upthrust  Weight of fluid displaced !
 Buoyancy and Archimedes’ Principle
The net force on the object is then the
difference between the buoyant force and
the gravitational force.
 Question
• What causes the upthrust on
this solid fully immersed in the
water?

 The difference in water

pressure acting on the top
and bottom of the solid.
 Experiment
Verification of Archimedes principle
using hooked weight, measuring
cylinder, string and water.

• Determine the volume of water

displaced.
• Determine the weight of this
displaced water.
• Find the difference in weights of
hooked weight in air and water.
 Demonstration

Egg density
experiment/video clip
 Class discussion on the
experiment

Why does an egg sink in fresh

tap water and float in salt water?
 Conclusions from the
experiment

• The egg sunk in fresh tap water

because the egg had a higher
density than the water.

• By adding mass (salt), we increase

the water’s density enough so that
the egg floats.
Video clips showing graphic
demonstration of buoyant
force.
 Discussion on the
experiment

What determines whether a solid

floats or sink in a liquid?
 Italian Navy's aircraft
carrier

Aircraft carriers (ship) carrying 2

dozens jet fighters and armoured
vehicles arrived Mosul in Iraq from
France for battle against ISIS.
 Cruise Ship - Application of
buoyancy
Cruise ship can weigh over 50,000
tons. Despite its huge weight, cruise
ship have no problem floating on
the ocean.

Whether an object sinks or float is

not determined by its weight but by
its density and the density of the
fluid it is immersed in.
 Conclusions

Physics tells us that in order for an

object to float in a liquid, the
density (not mass, not weight) of
the object must be less than that of
the liquid.
Floating/sinking in water
The density of water is 1g/cm3 or
1000 kg/m3 (at 4°C)

•What happens to objects with a

lower density in water?
•What happens to objects with a
higher density in water?
Floating/sinking in water
Objects less dense than water float.
Objects which are more dense than
water sink.

• So why does Ice float then?

(Knowing it has same chemical
composition as water)
• Do ice & water have same density?
 Answer
As water freezes and turns to ice it
expands...
Expansion means an increase in volume
while keeping the mass the same. Hence
the density of ice is less than that of
water and so ice floats.

(Water density = 1 g/cm3

at 4°C while ice density
is 0.92 g/cm3)

Iceberg - mass of floating ice in the sea

 Class brainstorming
on scientific explanation for the
following:

• How does moving from saltwater to

freshwater affect a ship?
• Why does a helium balloon rise in
air?
• How do scuba divers, fish and
submarines control buoyancy?
 Review
• Fish can adjust their density to maintain a
state of neutral density, they do this by
inflating an internal bladder with air, this
organ changes the volume of the fish
without changing its mass allowing it to
match its density to the water it is
swimming in.
• Scuba divers use a similar method with
an external bladder to control their
buoyancy.
• Cruise ship even though it is extremely heavy is
less dense than saltwater; this is because a
large volume of the cruise ship is air.
 Helium

Helium is a gaseous element that is less

dense than air. Light-weight objects such as
balloons will float if filled with helium.
 Buoyant Force

Control of buoyant force in submarine

Hot air balloon floats in air Cruise ship floating on water

 Hydrometer
Construction & calibration of
hydrometer is based on the
fact that the depth to which
a solid sinks in a liquid is
inversely proportional to the
density of the liquid. ρ α 1/h
1 1 h2
   h = constant  
h 2 h1
Simulation

density - PhET Simulation.jar

 Problem solving

• Hand out problems sheet.

• Some solved as examples in

class, others due next lesson.
 Appendix

Hydrostatic pressure and

variation with depth
demonstrated by jets of
water at various depths
 Recall pressure in fluid
Surface
Area A

Liquid Depth h

Weight W
F W mg Vg  Ahg
P= = = = = =  gh
A A A A A
m
(Re call V = Ah and  = )
V
The pressure p at a depth h in an incompressible fluid of
density  is given by p =  gh.