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The weight of the volume of fluid displaced by an object is equal to the buoyant force acting on it. The density of a floating object is less than the density of the fluid it is floating in. An empty oil tanker displaces enough water to support its weight.
If the density of an object in the fluid is greater than the density of the fluid, the object will sink. If the density is less than the fluid, the object will float. An object will float to the top and only be submerged by an amount according to the ratio of the densities.
What is the relationship between floating and density?
The relative densities of an object and the liquid it is placed in determine whether that object will sink or float. An object that has a higher density than the liquid it’s in will sink. An object that has a lower density than the liquid it’s in will float.
How is density and relative density related?
Density is the ratio between the mass and the volume of a body. Relative density, on the other hand, is the ratio between the density of an object (substance) and the density of some other reference object (substance) at some given temperature. Density is measured in, while relative density is dimensionless.
Of course if the object is shaped to float (a bowl or a cruise ship for example) then it can have a greater density. In such a case, the water displaced by the floating object will be equal in weight to the floating object (Archimedes’ Principle). Density is said to be volume per unit mass.
What makes an object more likely to float?
The key to floating is being light for your size. So if you can add size to an object without adding much weight, the object will be lighter relative to its size. This means that the density of the overall object will decrease and be more likely to float.
How to calculate the density of a fluid?
Now we can obtain the relationship between the densities by substituting ρ = m V ρ = m V into the expression. This gives ¯ρobj ρ ¯ obj is the average density of the object and ρfl ρ fl is the density of the fluid.
Which is greater the buoyant force or the displacement force?
The buoyant force, which equals the weight of the fluid displaced, is thus greater than the weight of the object. Likewise, an object denser than the fluid will sink. The extent to which a floating object is submerged depends on how the object’s density is related to that of the fluid.