BUOYANCY

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BUOYANCY
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Archimedes, a Greek scholar, is given credit
for first explaining the force of buoyancy. He
supposedly made this discovery while
bathingthat is, he noticed the water level in
his bath raised when he entered the tub!
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This observation lead Archimedes to formulate
the Floatation Principle. This principle states
that an object submerged in a fluid is buoyed
up by a force equal to the weight of the
fluid it displaces.
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This principle applies to all fluids. Because a
fluid is defined as anything that flows, this
principle applies to liquids and gases! That
means that objects can be buoyed up while
floating in water or air!
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Buoyancy can be described as positive,
negative, or neutral. An object that displaces
a volume of fluid equal to or greater than its
weight, floats, and is said to have positive
buoyancy. An object that displaces a volume of
fluid less than its own weight sinks, and is
said to have negative buoyancy.
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Sometimes, an object will neither sink or float,
but remains suspended in the fluid,
this is called neutral buoyancy. Submarines
achieve different degrees of neutral buoyancy,
as they adjust their depths in the
ocean. Hot air balloons also adjust their
elevations by adjusting their neutral
buoyancy.
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Boats made of steel float because of the large
air spaces that are within their interiors. Hot
air balloons float because the hot air is less
dense than the surrounding air, so the balloon
is buoyed up by the surrounding air.
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Buoyancy makes things float! In liquids or in
gases, the force that opposes
gravity on objects that are immersed in
fluids is known as BOUYANCY!
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THE END
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Angela Ray Capital High School December 30,
1999 aray_at_newwave.net