H S Road, Telco Colony,

Jamshedpur

Physics Project
On
Floatation
Prepared By
Ashwin P Nair
Class – VIII A
Roll No - 34
 Contents
 Acknowledgement
 Introduction
 Principles Of Floatation
 Law of Floatation
 Buoyant Force
 What Causes Buoyant Force
 Types Of Buoyant Force
 Applications Of Floatation
 Conclusion
 Bibliography
 Acknowledgement
I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my teacher Mr.
Vikas Das who gave me this project on Floatation .It also helped me in
doing a lot of research and I came to know about so many knowledgeable
things . Secondly I am thankful to some websites and some books which
helped me to complete this project in the limited time frame.
 Introduction
What is Floatation
Floatation can be defined as the tendency of an object to rise up to the upper levels of the fluid or
to stay on the surface of the fluid. The opposite of floatation is sinking and can be defined as the
tendency of an object to go to the lower levels of the fluid.
Example:- If we place a piece of cork and a iron nail on the surface , we notice
that the cork floats while the nail sinks . This is because the density of cork is less than the
density of water , while the of iron ( of which the nail is made up of ) is more than the density
of water . Thus , a body floats on a liquid density is less than the density of the liquid while a
body sinks in a liquid if its density is more than the density of the liquid.
 Principles of Floatation

 The principle of floatation states that when an object floats in a liquid the
buoyant force/up thrust that acts on the object is equal to the weight of the
object.
 As shown in the figure above, if the weight of the object (W) = up thrust (F),
the object is in balance and therefore float on the surface of the fluid.
 If the weight of the object > up thrust, the object will sink into the fluid.
 Law Of Floatation
 Law of floatation states that the weight W of an object equals the weight w of the
liquid displaced by it. It refers to the floating object displaces its own weight of the
fluid in which it floats. Ships float in water although it is made of steel and iron
which is denser.
 Weight of the floating body = Weight of the liquid displaced by its immersed part
(i.e. the buoyant force )
 Buoyant Force
 When a body is immersed in a Fluid , an upward force is exerted by fluid the on the body.
 The upward force is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the body and is called the buoyant
force.
 What causes Buoyant Force
 Buoyant force is the force on an object exerted by the surrounding fluid.
 When a object pushes water , the water pushes back with as much force it can.
 If the water can push back as hard, the object floats (Boat). If not It sinks
(Steel)
 Types Of Buoyant Force

The weight of the Body W is Greater than

the buoyant force Fb .
In this case the resultant force on the body
will sink in the liquid to the bottom under
the influence of the resultant force (W-
Fb) . This happens when the density of
the solid is greater than the density of the
liquid.
The weight of the body W is equal to the buoyant
force Fb

 In this case , the resultant force on the

body is zero ,i.e. the apparent weight
of the body is zero . The body will
float just inside the surface of liquid .
This happens when the density of the
solid is equal to the density of the
liquid.
 The weight of the body W is less
than the buoyant force Fb

In this case , the resultant force acts as on

the body upwards . The body will float
partially above the surface of liquid . Only
that much portion of the body will immerse
inside the liquid by which the weight of the
liquid displaced Fb balances the total
weight of the body . This happens when the
density of the solid is less than density of
the liquid . Now while floating , Fb = W
, so apparent weight is zero
 Applications of Floatation
1) Floatation Of An Iron Ship:- An iron nail sinks because it has more weight than the weight of the water it
displaces. In other words, the density of the iron nail is greater than the density of water. In case of a ship, a
large portion of it is hollow inside. This reduces the apparent density of the ship to a value less than the density
of water. The weight of the water displaced by the ship is much more than its own weight. This makes the ship
float on water.
2) Floatation Of A Man:- Its Easier for a person to swim in sea water than in river water. The reason is
that the sea water contains salt and so its density is more than the density of river water . The weight of a man
gets balanced by the less immersed part of his body in sea water as compared to river water. Thus , its easier
to swim in sea water than in river water.
1) Floatation Of Ship 2) Floatation Of Man

3) Floatation Of Fish 4) Floatation Of Submarine

3) Floatation of a fish:- Most fish have an organ known as the swim bladder. When they want
to rise, fish release gas into the swim bladder and increase their volume. As a result, they
displace more water. The force of buoyancy acting on them increases. To come down, a fish
empties the bladder to the required extent, reducing the volume and the force of buoyancy acting
on it.
4) Floatation of a submarine:- The working of a submarine is based on the floatation of fish .
A submarine can dive into the water or rise to the surface as needed. The most important
compartments of a submarine that help in its floatation are the ballast tank, and the compressed
air tank . To dive, the ballast tanks are filled with water so that the average density of the
submarine becomes greater than the density of sea water, and the submarine dives . To rise, the
water from the ballast tanks is forced out into the sea by allowing air from the compressed air
tank to enter the ballast tank. As a result, the average density of the submarine decreases, and
the submarine rises.
5) Floatation of Iceberg :-The density of ice is less than the density of water. Therefore, huge
masses of ice, known as icebergs, float in water. The part of the iceberg that appears on the water
surface is very small. A large part of it is inside the water. Let V be the total volume of the
iceberg and V' be the volume of the iceberg submerged in the water. According to the laws of
floatation, the weight of the iceberg is equal to the weight of the sea water displaced by it.
Vdig = V'dwg
V'/V = di/dw.
6) Floatation of a Balloon in air:- Helium-filled balloons float because helium is much less
dense than air. This means that a cubic centimeter of helium weighs less than a cubic centimeter of
air, allowing a balloon inflated with helium to float on top of the cold, heavier air. Because we
used normal air to fill our balloon, the change in temperature is what made our balloon float.
5) Floatation Of Iceberg

6) Floatation Of Balloon In Air

 Conclusion
As the project has came to an end , My conclusion is the weight of an object doesn't
make and object sink or float. It mainly depends on the density, how packed together it
is. The orange floated but it weighed more than the marble. So just because something
seems heavier it might float.
Floatation is indeed a very important concept in todays date and it also a very
interesting project to be researched in the upcoming future.
I think that the project went smoothly and I had no problems , except for the fact that
Floatation was quite an interesting and engaging topic for me.
This project was very educational and enlightening for me . I conclude from this project
that Floatation has a wide range of applications and we see it’s instances in our day to
day life as well.
 Bibliography

References from the internet:-

1)www.brittanica.com
2)www.wikipedia.com
3)www.slideshare.net
References from textbook:-
1)NCERT Physics textbook part (ll)
2)Selina Concise Physics Class 8 and 9