Why things float?
–Class 8
WHY DO THINGS FLOAT?
Learning Objective:
To understand the Relative density
To understand buoyancy of objects
To analyze the density of different objects.
Introduction
Ask kids whether they have wondered how ship floats?
Ask them the difference between the sea and normal water.
Ask them that how do we measure liquid?
Tell them to differentiate a litre of water and a litre of water/kerosene/coconut oil?
Tell them that we are going to study about that by performing the below experiments.
1. Relative Density of Solid
Elaborate the concept of Density to the kids before starting the experiment.
Aim - To determine the relative density of various Solid objects
Materials Required
Measuring cylinder
Overflow vessel
Rubber block
Wooden block
Glass slide
Plastic cubes
Glass marbles
Stones
Cork
Weighing balance
Water
Procedure Figure 1
Ask the kids to copy the below table to their note.
Why things float? –Class 8
Take an overflow vessel, rubber block and a 50 ml measuring cylinder from your kit. Weigh the
empty 50 ml measuring cylinder and the rubber block. Record this in the table.
Pour water in the overflow vessel until it starts dripping from its beak.
When water stops dripping from the beak, place the 50 ml measuring cylinder under it.
Slip the rubber block gently into the water, ensuring that water does not splash out. Once the
block is in the overflow vessel; water flows out of the beaker and collects in the cylinder. Wait
till the flow stops.
Weigh the cylinder with the water that overflowed and record the weight.
If we subtract the weight of the measuring cylinder from this weight, we get the weight of
water. This is the weight of water displaced by the rubber block. Record it in the table.
Table 1:
Weight of the empty bottle =........... g.
WEIGHT OF WEIGHT OF
RELATIVE
[Link] NAME OF WEIGHT OF DISPLACED DISPLACED
DENSITY OF
. THE OBJECT THE OBJECT WATER AND WATER BY
THE OBJECT
CYLINDER OBJECT
Relative density means how many times an object is denser than water. We can find the relative density
of the block by taking the weight of the block and dividing it by the weight of an equal volume of water.
Relative density = Density of the object
Density of water equal to the volume of the object
Find the relative density of the block and record it in the tabular column.
REVIEW -
Find the relative density of various objects.
Ask the kids to correlate the relative density of the object to the reason why they float.
Ask them to predict the objects that float in water based on the relative density.
Why things float? –Class 8
JUST TO READ:
About 2200 years ago, in Syracuse province in Greece, there was a scientist by name of Archimedes.
Once the king ordered his goldsmith to make a crown. The crown was beautiful but the king suspected
that the crown might not be of pure gold – maybe there was some silver mixed in it. The king ordered
Archimedes to find out whether or not the crown was made of pure gold, and to do so without
destroying it. Archimedes had a big problem to tackle. For a number of days he was stuck, and he
could not think of any way to solve the problem. One day when he got into his bathtub, he noticed
some water overflowing. Archimedes had a sudden insight, and he jumped out of the tub and ran
down to his laboratory naked, shouting “Eureka! Eureka!” (Which means “I found it! I found it!”).
The experiment which we did before was first performed by Archimedes.
Ask the kids that whether the liquids do have relative density?
Tell them that we will now carry out the experiments to find out the Relative density of liquids.
2. Relative Density Of Liquids
Aim - To find the relative density of milk, groundnut oil and kerosene.
Why things float? –Class 8
Materials Required
Measuring cylinder
Overflow vessel
Water
Milk
Groundnut oil
Kerosene
Weighing balance
Procedure
Take a small bottle in which you can fill about 50 ml of liquid. The bottle should weigh not less
than 10 gm.
Take the cap out, wash and dry it and then weigh the bottle.
Fill the bottle to the brim with water and weigh it again.
Fill the bottle with the liquid whose relative density you want to find.
Weigh the bottle filled with liquid
Table 2:
Weight of the empty bottle =........... g.
WEIGHT OF THE
NAME OF THE WEIGHT OF THE RELATIVE
[Link] BOTTLE FILLED WITH
We LIQUID LIQUID DENSITY
LIQUID
1 Water
2 milk
3 Groundnut oil
4 kerosene
can find the relative density of liquids similar to that of the solids. For this, we need to find the weight of
a fixed volume of the liquid and the weight of an equal volume of water. The formula for finding the
relative density of a liquid is:
Relative density = Density of the test liquid
Density of the water
Based on the table, divide the liquids into two groups:
Those which have density less than water and those with densities and greater than that.
REVIEW –
Why things float? –Class 8
Ask the kids to observe carefully.
Ask them to justify the results obtained based on the relative density.
Ask them to list the liquids possessing density less than and the liquids with greater density than that of
the water.
Calculate the Relative density of different liquids and tabulate it in the tabular column.
3. Lactometer
Aim - To make a lactometer
Materials Required
Ball point pen
Boiling tube
Water
Milk
Procedure
Take an empty ball point refill. It should have a metal point.
Take a boiling tube and fill it with water.
Put the refill in with the metallic point inside the water.
Did the refill sink completely or is some part above the water surface?
Use a pen to mark the point on the refill that is at the water surface.
Pour out the water from the boiling tube and fill it with milk.
Float the refill in the milk.
Did the refill sink to the same mark as in water? If not, did it sink more or less in milk than in water? Why
did this happen?
Put a second mark at the point where the refill is at the surface of the milk.
Now pour a mixture of milk and water in the boiling tube.
If we put the refill in this mixture, to which point it will sink?
Take a guess. Test if your guess is correct by actually dipping the refill in the milk-water mixture.
4. Making Iron Float
Ask the kids to guess the approximate weight of a ship.
Later ask the reason how such a huge mass floats in water?
Instruct them to find the experiment carefully .
Aim - To learn how iron floats
Materials Required
Iron vessel
Bowl of Water
Why things float? –Class 8
Procedure
1. Drop an iron block to the bowl containing water and observe what happens.
2. Now drop a bowl or vessel made of iron to water.
REVIEW –
Discuss about the experiment with the kids and explain them the Buoyancy offered by the water.
Buoyancy is an upward force exerted by a fluid that opposes the weight of an immersed object.
Try to correlate this with the surface area of the massive objects.
5. Aluminium Foil
Aim - To find how volume affects the density of the object
Materials Required
Aluminum foil
Bowl of Water
Procedure
Take a small sheet of aluminum foil.
Fold it four or five times, pressing the foil tight after each fold. Measure the relative density of
aluminum (as done in earlier experiment).
Given the relative density of aluminum, do you think the foil will float or sink in water?
Drop the folded aluminum foil in the water and test whether your guess is correct or not.
Now unfold the aluminum foil and make it into a small bowl.
Place this bowl in the water and see whether it floats or sinks.
JUST TO READ:
How does ice floats on water?
Ice floats because it is about 9%
less dense than liquid water. In
other words, ice takes up about
9% more space than water, so a
liter of ice weighs less than a
lighter water. The heavier
water displaces the lighter ice,
so ice floats to the top.