Tuesday 7 April 2009

Bouancy What is Bouyancy? In physics the term "Bouyancy" means upwards force that keeps things afloat. Who thought up of Bouyancy? People have been aware of objects floating on water (or sinking) since before recorded history. But it was not until Archimedes of Syracuse that the theory of flotation and the buoyancy principle was discovered. How does it work? The force (for example gravity) that is applied on the object is equal to the weight of the fluid. The two main parts that buoyancy depends on are the object's volume (boat), and the weight of the neighbouring fluid (water). But if the object heavier than the fluid it would sink for example a rock dropped into a pond, the rock mass is larger than the mass of the water, also the rocks area has to match the area of water and the area of the rock is heavier than the area of the water. By Cameron Webb