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Jerrica Johnson
LAB
Review of Literature
November 26th, 2014

How much weight can your boat float

How much weight can a boat float? One might think that the boats made of
different materials, such as paper, plastic, and aluminum will be able to hold many
m&m's because they are lightweight, while others think that the plastic material will
be able to hold more m&m's because water bottles, made of plastic material are able
to float in water with water in the bottle, so it should easily be able to hold a lot of
m&m's. This project was chosen because many people are interested in boats and are
impressed by how much weight boats can carry, so they might want to learn about
boats and how much they can hold. To understand the project, one will need to know
what density, mass, volume, density of water, displacement, buoyancy, and weight
are?
Density is a measure of how much solidity an object has ("Mass and Weight").
This is important to know because for the project, two people will have to be working
with m&ms and boats, and one will also need to know how much density it has so
they can do our calculations to find out how much weight a boat can hold. Mass is the
amount of matter an object has ("Mass and Weight"). This is important for the project

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because people needs to understand what a boat is made out of, and how much the
boat weighs before adding the extra weight. Mass may be hard to measure because
you cannot see mass, and you have to use a special instrument to measure the
amount of mass an object has.
Volume is the amount of space that an object or liquid occupies (Sheppard).
This is important to the project because one needs to know how much space is taken
after placing the boats into the water, and adding the m&ms. To measure volume,
multiply the height of the object by the length of the object that is being measured.
For this project, one will measure the length of the bottom of the container that will
have the water and the boat in it. Someone will measure the height of the container
without the water in it, and then again after placing the water in. After putting the
water and the boat in, one will measure the length and height of the container again.
Density of water is the volume that the water has after something is placed in it. For
example, when placing the boats in the water, one will have to use a displacement
finding formula in order to find out how much space was taken up after placing the
boat in the water. For this project, after placing the boats in the water, one will have
to measure the volume of the amount of water that the boat pushes aside when it is
placed in the water.
Buoyancy is the ability to be able to float in water or any other substance
("What Is Buoyancy and How Does It Affect Weighing"). This word is important to know
for our project because someone will be making boats and placing them in water, and
the boat must have buoyancy, to be able to float on the water when it is placed in the
container with the water. Weight is the measure of how much something weighs. This

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is important because one will need to measure the weight of the boat that is placed
in the water, and one will also need to measure the m&ms which will be placed on
the boat that is floating in the water. Weight is measured with a device called a scale.
("The Difference Between Mass and Weight.") A scale gives an exact number of how
much something or someone weighs.
So, in conclusion, with this project one will be learning how much weight a
plastic or paper boat can hold. One will be using a lot of tools and devices to measure
the weight, volume, mass, and density of the boat, water, m&ms, and the containers
weight. So one can conclude that one will now know how much weight a boat can
float.

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Work Cited
Water's the Matter: Mass, Volumes, & Concentrations
Introduction. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
"What Is Buoyancy and How Does It Affect Weighing? (FAQ - Mass &
Density) : FAQs : Reference : National Physical Laboratory." What
Is

Buoyancy and How Does It Affect Weighing? (FAQ - Mass & Density)

: FAQs

: Reference : National Physical Laboratory. N.p., n.d. Web. 24

Nov. 2014.
"Mass, Volume and Density/Written by Tim Sheppard MBBS BSc.
Created 11/2/10; Last Updated 10/11/10." Mass, Volume and
Density. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
"Mass and Weight." Mass, Weight, Density. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov.
2014.
"The Difference Between Mass and Weight." About. N.p., n.d. Web.
24 Nov. 2014.