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– Archimedes
Ever wondered how huge ships manage to stay afloat in water, while a small iron nail
Here the term ‘fluid’ refers to all liquids and gases. For an object that is completely
submerged in a fluid, the weight of the fluid displaced by it is less than its own weight.
On the other hand, for an object that floats on the surface of the fluid, the weight of the
fluid displaced by it, is equal to the weight of the object. Now, the upward force
experienced by the body is termed as the buoyant force. Thus,
Buoyant force = weight of the fluid displaced by the body
Now, the weight of the fluid displaced by the body is directly proportional to the volume
of the displaced fluid, since the density of the fluid is constant. This can be illustrated by
the following equations.
Weight = Mass x g (where g is the acceleration due to gravity and is a constant)
and
Mass = Density x Volume
Thus, we can say
Weight = Density x Volume x g
From the above equation, we can conclude that a body shall float in a fluid under any of
the two conditions.
The density of the body is less than the density of the fluid.
The volume of the fluid displaced by the immersed part of the body is such that its
weight is equal to the weight of the body.
Now, let’s consider the example of the nail and the ship. When you place a nail in water,
the weight of the water displaced by the nail is less than the weight of the nail itself. In
other words, the buoyant force experienced by the nail (which is equal to the weight of
the water displaced by it) is less than its weight, and the nail sinks in water. However,
when you observe a huge ship that floats on water, you’ll see that the ship is hollow,
which means it is filled with air. This makes the average density of the ship lower than
that of water. Thus, with only a small part of it submerged in water, the weight of the
water displaced by the ship, becomes equal to the buoyant force, and the ship floats on
water. From this, we can conclude that, for a body to float in water or any other fluid, the
weight of the fluid displaced by the body should be equal to the weight of the body. In
other words, more the weight of a body, more the volume of fluid it needs to displace, in
order to float in the fluid.
Now, consider this. Suppose an iron ball weighs 20 kg. When a string is tied to the ball
and it is submerged in water, the weight of water displaced by the ball is, say, 7 kg.
Therefore, the ball would experience an upward force equal to 7 kg. This means that the
net downward force experienced by the string would be equal to 13 kg (20 – 7 = 13).
Thus, it can be concluded that the weight of the ball decreases when it is immersed in
water. This reduced weight of the ball is termed as the apparent weight. Hence, the
Archimedes’ principle can be restated as follows.
Reduced weight of the body in water (Apparent weight) = Weight of the body – weight of
the fluid displaced