Lecture

39: Buoyancy

Chapter 12: Fluid Mechanics

Lecture Objective
Apply the concept of buoyancy and Archimedes
principle to various systems involving fluids and objects
in fluids.

The Golden Crown

First century BC, the Hiero II, the king of
Syracuse suspected that the goldsmith
might have replaced some of the gold
given to him by silver.
Hiero asked Archimedes to find out
whether the wreath was pure gold.
The solution, which occurred when he stepped into his bath and
caused it to overflow, was to put a weight of gold equal to the
crown, and known to be pure, into a bowl which was filled with
water to the brim. Then the gold would be removed and the
kings crown put in, in its place. An alloy of lighter silver would
increase the bulk of the crown and cause the bowl to overflow.

Hiero II, 304-215BC

http://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Crown/CrownIntro.html

Archimedes principle
A body wholly or partially submerged in a fluid is
buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the
displaced fluid.

Buoyancy
Buoyancy is the apparent loss of weight of objects when
submerged in a liquid.
It is easier to lift a boulder submerged on the bottom
of a riverbed than to lift it above the waters surface.
When the boulder is submerged, the water exerts an
upward force that is opposite in direction to gravity.
This upward force is called the buoyant force.
The buoyant force is the net upward force exerted
by a fluid on a submerged or immersed object.

Buoyancy
Force exerted by fluid on a body submerged in it

Buoyancy
When an object is submerged, it displaces a volume of water
equal to the volume of the object itself.

Archimedes principle
A brick weighs less in water than in air. The buoyant force
on the submerged brick is equal to the weight of the water
displaced.

Sinking and floating can be summed up in three

simple rules.
1. An object more dense than the fluid in which
it is immersed sinks.
2. An object less dense than the fluid in which
it is immersed floats.
3. An object with density equal to the density
of the fluid in which it is immersed neither
sinks nor floats.

The wood floats

because it is less
dense than water.
The fish neither rises
nor sinks because it
has the same density
as water.
The rock sinks
because it is denser
than water.

Sample Problem: Buoyancy

A 15.0-kg solid gold statue is being raised from a sunken
ship. What is the tension in the hoisting cable when it is
completely immersed?

To get tension, we
have so solve for
Buoyant force B.
Use FB= gV

First get the volume of the gold; gold = 19.3x103kg/m3.

Using sw = 1.03x103kg/m3; calculate the weight of this volume

of seawater:

Buoyant force is equal to the weight of that object

in water!

Note:
If the statue is out of water,
the Tension in the wire is equal
to the statues weight

The statue is at rest; so the net force acting on the statue is

zero. Using the free-body diagram:

Sample Problem: Buoyancy

A raft of area A, thickness h, and mass 600 kg floats in still
water with 7 cm submerged. When Bubba stands on the
raft, 8.4 cm are submerged as shown below. What is
Bubba's mass?

Given:

A, h

m = 600 kg

d1 = 7 cm

d2 = 8.4 cm

Find:

M = mass of Bubba
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Seatwork

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Seatwork 1:
The buoyant force that acts on an object submerged in
water is due to
A.
equal water pressures on all sides.
B.
greater water pressure on the bottom than on
the top.
C.
the greater volume of the submerged object
compared with the volume of an equal weight
of water.
D.
whether or not the object is denser than
water.

Seatwork 2 to 5
Identical-sized lead and aluminum cubes are
suspended at different depths by two wires in a large
body of water. (note: Pb > Al)

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Seatwork answers

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Seatwork 1:
The buoyant force that acts on an object submerged in
water is due to
A.
equal water pressures on all sides.
B.
greater water pressure on the bottom than
on the top.
C.
the greater volume of the submerged object
compared with the volume of an equal weight
of water.
D.
whether or not the object is denser than
water.

Seatwork 2 to 5
Identical-sized lead and aluminum cubes are
suspended at different depths by two wires in a large
body of water.

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