CE 366L

HYDRAULICS

NAME ____________________________ DATE PERFORMED ______________

Laboratory Exercise No. _6_

TITLE : BUOYANCY, BUOYANT FORCES AND STABILITY OF FLOATING

BODIES

OBJECTIVE : To determine the buoyant forces acting on floating bodies and their
stability.

PROBLEMS : 1. It is said that Archimedes discovered the buoyancy laws when asked
by King Hiero of Syracuse to determine whether or not his new
crown was gold (s.g. = 19.3). Archimedes found the weight of the
crown in air to be 13.0 N and its weight in water to be 11.8 N.
a) Was it gold?
b) Assuming the crown is an alloy of gold (s.g. = 19.3) and silver
(s.g. = 10.5). For the same measured weights, compute the
percentage silver in the crown

2. A 1.1-ft-diameter hollow sphere is made of steel (s.g. = 7.85) with

0.015-ft wall thickness. How deep “h” will the sphere sink in water?
How much weight must be added inside to make the sphere
neutrally buoyant?

3. What fraction of the volume of a solid piece of metal of s.g. = 7.35

floats above the surface of a container of mercury?

4. A barge with a flat bottom and square ends has a draft of 6.0 ft
when fully loaded and floating in an upright position. The center of
gravity (CG) of the barge . The center of gravity (CG) of the barge
when fully loaded is on the axis of symmetry and 1.2 ft above the
water surface. Is the barge stable? If it is stable, what is the
righting moment when the angle of heel is 10o?
5. A solid wood cylinder has a diameter of 2.0 ft and a height of 4.0 ft.
The specific gravity of the wood is 0.60. If the cylinder is placed
vertically in oil (s.g. = 0.85), would it be stable?

6. A plastic cube of dimension L and specific gravity 0.82 floats in

water. Is the cube stable?