6/29/23, 7:20 PM Archimedes' Principle: Equation with Solved Examples

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6/29/23, 7:20 PM Archimedes' Principle: Equation with Solved Examples

Archimedes' Principle: Equation with Solved Examples

Have you ever wondered why large and massive steel ships do not sink but a small coin does?
x
The answer is in Archimedes' principle which is closely related to the buoyant forces. 

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6/29/23, 7:20 PM Archimedes' Principle: Equation with Solved Examples

To objects in fluids (such as water or even air!), two main forces applied upward buoyant force and downward gravitational force. Competition
between these two forces determines whether an object sinks or floats in a fluid. 

Here, we are going to learn about this topic with some basic and important solved examples. 

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This fundamental principle which was discovered by a Greek mathematician in the sixth century B.C. states and defines as below:

Any object wholly or partially submerged in a fluid is buoyed up by a force with a magnitude of the weight of the displaced fluid by the object.

When you lift a heavy object in a swimming pool, in fact, you are experiencing Archimedes' principle as water provides partial support for you to
overcome the weight of an object placed in it. 

Or using Archimedes' principle, we can explain why hot air balloons ascend in the air.

When a body is placed into a fluid, an upward force is always exerted on it by the surrounding fluid which partially or wholly reduces the impact
of downward weight force. This upward force is called the buoyant force.

Derivation of Archimedes' principle: 

Method 1: Simple argument 

Suppose two bodies of the same size and shape and place them at some depth in a fluid.

One is filled with an unknown substance of mass m and the other is filled with the fluid surrounding it that has a mass of m′ .

Because both objects are at the same depth, the buoyant forces acting on them are the same.

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6/29/23, 7:20 PM Archimedes' Principle: Equation with Solved Examples

These buoyant forces must be balanced with the objects' weight so that the objects remain in the same depth (or to maintain their equilibrium).

For the object of mass m, Newton's second law of motion states, FB ​ = mg , and similarly for the object of mass m′ , we have FB = m′ g .
​

Therefore,

mg = FB = m′ f ​

As you can see it is simpler, instead of balancing the buoyant force with an unknown weight mg , we can do it by a known weight m′ g which is the
weight of the body of fluid whose volume equals to the volume of the original object.

This is Archimedes' principle. 

Method 2: The physical cause of the upward force exerted by fluids on objects into it, is the pressure difference between the upper and lower sides of
an object due to being at different depths of the fluid. 

Upon a surface at depth h below the fluid level, the pressure is P = P0 + ρgh where P0 is the pressure at the surface of the fluid and ρ is the
​ ​

density of the fluid. 

As you can see, the lower side of an object sits at a greater depth so by definition of pressure, P = F
A
​, there is a large force upon it. 

Note that there are also horizontal forces exerted on an object in a fluid but since they are located at the same depth so their net is zero.  

In fact, all horizontal forces exerted on an object with any arbitrary shape can be shown to cancel the effect of each other. 

All that remains are the vertical forces applied on the top and bottom sides of the submerged body whose vector summing gives the upward
buoyant force Fb . ​

Now applying Newton's second law and balancing all forces in the vertical direction, we obtain the following formula for Archimedes' principle 

buoyant force = body's weight 

or 
x
Fb = W
​

Where buoyant force formula (https://physexams.com/lesson/definition-buoyant-force-formula-examples_23) is written as the product of fluid's

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6/29/23, 7:20 PM Archimedes' Principle: Equation with Solved Examples

density, displaced volume of the fluid by object into it and gravitational constant g = 10 m/s2 or

Fb = ρf luid × Vdis × g
​ ​ ​

Now is the time to solve some examples to understand Archimedes' principle. 

Example: a block of wood floats in freshwater with two-fifth of its volume V submerged and in oil with 0.75V submerged. Find the
density of (a) the wood (b) the oil. 

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Solution: Since wood floats in water so its weight must be balanced with the buoyancy force.  x

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6/29/23, 7:20 PM Archimedes' Principle: Equation with Solved Examples

(a) In a partially submerged body, the buoyancy force Fb is defined as the density of fluid ρf times the displaced volume of fluid Vdis times the
​ ​ ​

gravitational acceleration g . Thus, using Archimedes' principle equation, which is equating weight and buoyancy force, we get

W = Fb ​

ρwood × Vwood × g = ρwater × Vdis × g

​ ​ ​ ​

2
ρwood × Vwood × g = (1) ( Vwood ) g
​ ​

5
​ ​ ​ ​

2 g
ρwood =
5 cm3
​ ​ ​

(b) Similarly, we can find the oil's density as above

(ρV g )wood = (ρ′ V g )oil

​

(400)(V )g = ρoil (0.75V )g ​

400 ​

⇒ ρoil =
0.75
​ ​

1600
= kg/m3
3
​

Example: an iron object of density 7.8 g/cm3 appears 200 N lighter in water than in air. 

(a) What is the volume of the object?

(b) How much does it weigh in the air?

Solution: Since the body has become lighter in water so there must be an upward force acting on the object which cancels some of the
downward weight force. In fluids, this force is called floating or buoyancy force. 

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6/29/23, 7:20 PM Archimedes' Principle: Equation with Solved Examples

(a) According to Archimedes' law, 200 N is the buoyancy force acting on the body which is obtained by the formula below

Fb = ρwater × Vobject × g
​ ​ ​

200 = 100 × Vobject × 10 ​

​ ​

2
⇒ Vobject = m3
100
​ ​

(b) Body's weight, W = ρV g in air is calculated as

2
W = (7800) ( ) (10) = 1560 N
100
​

Where V is the actual volume of the body. 

As you can see above, one of the main applications of Archimedes' principle is finding the density of an unknown object.

Example: a wooden rectangular slab with surface area 5.7 m2 , volume V = 0.6 m3 and density 600 kg/m3 is placed slowly in
freshwater. By what depth h is the slab submerged? 

Solution: according to Archimedes' principle, the water will apply an upward buoyant force on the slab whose magnitude is equal to the weight
x
of the water displaced by the slab. 

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6/29/23, 7:20 PM Archimedes' Principle: Equation with Solved Examples

Thus, the buoyant force exerted on the slab is Fb ​ = mwater g = ρwater Vdis g where Vdis is the displaced volume of the water or amount of the
​ ​ ​ ​

slab's volume which is underwater. Let h be the height of the slab from the bottom side. Thus, Vdis ​ = Ah where A is the base area of the slab.

The weight of the slab is also given by W = ρslab Vslab g . 

​ ​

Next, using Archimedes' principle equation as, Fb ​ = W , we get

ρwater × (Ah) × g = ρslab × Vslab × g

​ ​ ​

ρslab Vslab
⇒h=
​ ​

ρwater A
​

​ ​

600 × 0.6
=
1000 × 5.7
​

= 0.0632 m

Criteria for floating or sinking:

Archimedes' principle simply gives us a rule of thumb to find out whether an object placed into a fluid sinks or floats. According to this principle,
if we write all forces applied by a motionless fluid on a body submerged in it as upward buoyant force Fb and downward weight force W , then ​

there will be three situations depending on the sign of the net force Fnet ​ = Fb ↑ −W ↓:
​

(1) Sinking: when happens Fnet ​ < 0, in this case, the upward buoyancy force is less than its downward weight force, then the object sinks.

ρf luid Vf luid g < ρobj Vobj g

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

buoyancy weight

For example, stone is denser than water, so when it is placed in water, it sinks. 

(2) Floating: when occurs Fnet ​ > 0, consequently the positive upward buoyant force is balanced with the negative downward force of gravity
(weight), then the object floats on the surface of the fluid.

ρf luid Vf luid g = ρobj Vobj g

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

buoyancy weight

Wood is less dense than water, so it floats.

(3) Neutral buoyancy: there is a third case when Fnet ​ = 0. In these situations, the object remains at that point of releasing in the fluid as
motionless. This happens when the densities of object and fluid are equal. An example of neutral buoyancy is swimming fish in the water. Fishes
have a swimming bladder that can be filled with air together with their flesh to make a composite object with average adjusted such that
balances the density of the water and consequently it neither sinks nor floats in the water.

Question: How much fraction of the volume of an iceberg is under the sea level?

Solution: according to Archimedes' principle, since the iceberg floats on the water, the upward buoyant force equals its weight. The magnitude ofx
the buoyant force is the product of the iceberg's volume underwater, water's density, and gravitational acceleration. 

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6/29/23, 7:20 PM Archimedes' Principle: Equation with Solved Examples

On the other hand, weight is defined as the product of the iceberg's actual volume, iceberg density, and gravitational acceleration. 

Applying the floating conditions to find the fraction of the volume of the iceberg below sea level.

Fb = W ​

ρSW Vin−water g = ρIB V g

​ ​

Vin−water ρIB
⇒ =
​ ​

​ ​

V ρSW ​

​ ​

0.92 × 103
=
1.025 × 103
​

= 0.9

Where in above ρIB and ρSW are the densities of iceberg and seawater, respectively. As you can see, about 90% of the volume of an iceberg is
​ ​

underwater.

Author: Ali Nemati

Page Created: 1/31/2021

 

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