1. Buoyancy and Archimedes’ Principle

2. Buoyant Force Water and other fluids exert an upward force on an object. This force is called the buoyant force.

3. If an object’s weight is greater than the buoyant force, it will sink. If an object’s weight is less than the buoyant force, it will float.

4. Do you displace water when you swim in the ocean? Does the water level rise when you enter?

5. Why do things weigh less in water? Because of Buoyancy! If an object’s weight is greater than the buoyant force, it will sink but it will weigh less. You take the actual weight of the object and subtract the buoyant force exerted by the water.

6. What direction does the buoyant force act? Upward! (opposite of gravity)

7. So how does an aircraft carrier float? An aircraft carrier can weigh 100,000 tons Ship designers shape ships so that they displace a lot of water. If the weight of the water displaced is greater than the weight of the ship, the ship floats.

8. The water displaced weighs more than the ship.

9. What is Archimedes Principle? The buoyant force on an object is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object. Eureka!

10. Archimedes was the most famous mathematician and scientist of Ancient Greece Archimedes was born in 287 B.C. in the port of Syracuse, Sicily in the colony of Magna Graecia. In those times, in the absence of paper or blackboards, Archimedes used dust, ashes or any other available surface to draw his geometric figures. He successfully proved that silver was mixed with the gold crown that was made for King Hiero II. He coined the famous word “eureka”, which is almost unanimously used to express great joy upon any new discovery.