A little history… In the first century BC, the Roman

architect Vitruvius related a story of how Archimedes,

the Greek scientist, discovered that a goldsmith had
tried to cheat King Hiero II…
The king had given the goldsmith a particular amount
of gold to melt down and make into a crown. When
the crown was made and returned to the king, the
king was suspicious that the goldsmith
had stolen some of the gold and replaced
it with an equal weight of silver.
The king turned to Archimedes for help…
In Vitruvius’s own words:
"[Archimedes] happened to go to
the bath, and on getting into a tub
observed that the more his body
sank into it the more water ran out
over the tub.  As this pointed out
the way to explain the case in
question, he jumped out of the tub
and rushed home naked, crying
with a loud voice that he had
found what he was seeking;
for he, as he ran, shouted
repeatedly in Greek, ‘Eureka,
Eureka.’ meaning ‘I have found
So, what, exactly, had he found?
He realized that if the bath were completely
filled in the beginning, the volume of water that
would overflow (that was displaced) would
have to equal the volume of the person or
object placed into the water!!
He now had a way to measure the volume of
the irregularly-shaped crown…
He discovered that the crown displaced more
water than a chunk of gold of equal weight did.
Its volume was greater because it contained
some silver, a metal less dense than gold!!
• Imagine a very light,
thin-walled sack filled
with water that is in
equilibrium in a pool.
upward force
• Clearly, there must be an _______
exerted on the sack to balance its weight (the
pull of gravity down)
• This upward force is
actually the vector sum of all
the forces acting on the
object due to the
surrounding water, and is Pressure is greater
buoyant force.
called the _________ on bottom of sack!
 Archimedes’ Principle
The magnitude of the buoyant force is given
by Archimedes’ Principle. It states that… A
body fully or partially submerged in a fluid is
“buoyed up” by a force that is equal to the
weight displaced fluid
_______ of the ___________________.
Fbuoyant  Fb  mdisplaced fluid g

= density of
Fb  Vsubmerged g the displaced
fluid
An Example:
 Objects that Float:
 F  ___
0

Weightobject = Fb=Weightdisplaced fluid

Objects that Sink:

Wobject __ > Fb
>  fluid
So…  object __
An example: What percentage of an
iceberg’s volume is submerged
(assuming it is floating in sea water)?
kg  sea water  1030 kg
 ice  920 3 3
m m

Fb  Wiceberg
 water gVsubmerged   ice gVtotal
Vsubmerged  ice 920
   89%
Vtotal  water 1030
How do boats/ships float?
Obviously the density of a metal rowboat or a
“concrete canoe” is greater than the density
of water, but they float because they contain
a large amount of empty space. Because of
shape they displace enough water to
their _______,
balance their own weight.
 Cross-Sections of a
canoe floating in water:
Weight of canoe =
weight of displaced fluid
___________________
(shaded in red)

Weight of canoe plus

Canoe is occupants =
just on the weight of displaced fluid
___________________
verge of
sinking!
(maximum possible
shaded in red)
 How much water is actually
needed to float a ship?
Not as much as you’d think!!!...

Imagine that the canal is filled with water, and then

the ship is slowly lowered into the canal. If the
shape of the canal exactly matches the ship, and if
the canal is slightly larger than the ship, then all
but a thin layer of water all the way around will be
displaced. So…. this thin layer between the ship
and the canal is really all that is necessary!!
 April
2001
News-
Gazette
Article
How do Submarines Dive & Surface?
NO
Does the buoyant force change? ____!
• A sub has “ballast tanks” that can
water or _____.
be filled with _______ air
• To dive, a sub must become heavier, so the tanks
water in while venting ____
allow _______ air out.
• To surface, a sub must become lighter. A supply of
water
compressed air on the sub is used to force ______
back out of the ballast tanks.
Demo: Submarine Simulation
A syringe with a movable piston
attached to the “sub” varies the
air pressure in the “sub”.
• When the piston is pulled out, the
increases
volume of air ________, which
decreases
___________ the air pressure.
into the
• Water then moves _____
sinks
“sub” and the “sub” ______.
 Hot Air Balloons
If balloon is floating (not
accelerating up or down):

Fb  ________
Wtotal

(includes the weight of

the balloon, the basket,
the riders, and the ___
air
inside the balloon!)
_______
How does a balloon accelerate up?
Heaters heat the air … As
↑
temperature ↑, pressure __.
Some of the air escapes out
the bottom of the balloon,
since air will move from
high to ____
_____ low pressure.
Thus, the weight of the
↓
balloon ____. The upward
buoyant force is now greater
than the downward weight.
How does a balloon accelerate down?

Heaters are turned off,

causing the air to cool … As
↓
temperature ↓, pressure __.
Air from the outside enters
this lower pressure area,
___________
increasing the total weight
of the balloon. The upward
buoyant force is now less
than the downward weight.
Water Bridge in Germany
Six years to build it, 500 million
euros later, and 918 meters long.....
This is a channel-bridge over the River Elbe and
joins the former East and West Germany, as part
of the unification project. It is located in the city of
Magdeburg, near Berlin. The photo was taken on
the day of inauguration.

Did this bridge have to be designed to withstand

the additional weight of ship and barge traffic, or
just the weight of the water?
Answer:
It only needs to be designed to
withstand the weight of the water! 
 
Why?  

A ship always displaces an amount of

water that weighs the same as the
ship, regardless of how heavily a ship
may be loaded.
Excerpts from Nova: “Abandon Ship”