Sunday, January 28, 2007

Archimedes Principles

Assume if you will a plastic toy boat loaded with cast iron toy sailors sailing in a tub of water. If all the toy sailors were to fall overboard, the level of water in the tub would theoretically lower.

This is because while in the boat, the toy sailors will displace water which is equivalent to their combined weight, whereas once they are submerged, the toy sailors will displace water which is only equivalent to their combined volume.

This phenomenon will hold true for all items whose densities are greater than that of water which is 1 gm/cm3.