Buoyancy Force and Archimedes’ principle

Buoyancy Force

Buoyancy, or upthrust, is an upward force exerted by a fluid that opposes the weight of a partially or fully immersed object.

We have come across many daily life observations of sinking objects in water and floating on it. As boats, ships, plastic bottles and straws float on the surface of water, some fruits, iron pieces and stones etc. don't float on the water. We have also experienced that, when we try to sink tightly capped empty bottles in water, it forces it up towards the surface. We have also experienced that; a heavy piece of brick or iron feels lighter inside water than outside.

Although! Humans discovered this long ago in history. But the net amount of force exerted by water on any object was still a mystery. Until Archimedes figured it out in 246 BC.

Archimedes’ principle

Archimedes observed that, when we sink any object in a completely filled vessel with water, it displaces some water. He also calculated that; the net buoyancy force exerted by water is equal to the weight of displaced water.

Archimedes proposed a principle and named this principle after his name as we can say, “The Archimedes’ Principle”. This principle states that:

Any object, totally or partially immersed in a fluid or liquid, is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object.

Relative density:

After all these discoveries, still the mystery of floating some objects and sinking others was yet to unfold. But this mystery was solved by the concept of relative density.

We know that every object has a definite density. As water has density 997 kg/m³ and air has 1.24 kg/m³. To find the relative density of any object with water, we need to divide the density of object by the density of water. Such as;

Relative density = Density of object / Density of water

According to physics if the relative density of an object is greater than 1, then it will sink in the water and if the relative density of object is less than 1, it will float on the surface.

The concept of Buoyancy force is very handy in daily life and in industries as well. It is used in designing ships and submarines. This principle is used in lactometers, which are used to determine the purity of a sample of milk and hydrometers which are used for determining density of liquids etc.

After all these studies and discoveries, Buoyancy force has yet too much to explore. We will talk about them in our advanced blogs. Until then try to figure out about the most dense liquid on the earth and tell us in the comment box. See you in the next blog.

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