Murielle H. #7 8B 11-1-13 Have you ever wondered about density and how it could be useful?

Or how buoyancy isnt just about things floating? These properties are very important to the science world and to the regular world. Density and buoyancy can be used in everyday life. Ill tell you all about density and buoyancy and how they correspond with one another. This is just the basic information relating to density. Density is how much mass per unit volume something has or how closely packed together the atoms are in a compound. Density goes hand-in-hand with mass and volume. Mass is the amount of matter in an object, and it is measured in the unit, grams (g). Volume is the amount of space an object takes up. It is measured in millimeters (ml) or cubic centimeters (cm3). For example these components come in place when you need to find the density of an object. The formula to find density is density equals mass divided by volume. These are all the basic facts dealing with density. Here is an example of a situation in which the formula for density is necessary: A book has the mass of 35 grams and the volume of 7 cm3, how much density does the book have? The answer would be written as: 5 g/cm3. Density was first discovered by a Greek mathematician named Archimedes. The King of Syracuse gave him the task to find out whether or not a craftsman had fooled him by replacing some of the gold with silver in the Kings crown. He was evaluating the situation while using a public bathing pool, when suddenly a moment of understanding came over him, and he realized the amount of water that spilled over the tub was equal in volume to the space his body occupied. Once he was aware of this fact, he did an experiment and placed the craftsman's crown and a pure gold crown of Here are some important facts about density. Archimedes also found out that if an object is less dense than the fluid in which it is placed, it will float on the fluid. Also, that if it is more dense than the fluid, it will sink; these are the rules for buoyancy. For example, wood is less dense than water, so it would float, and a rock would sink because its more dense. Ever wonder how giant steel ships float? Well, in the bottom of every large ship, theres a large amount of space in which huge amounts of air are kept. That wa y, the total density of the ship is less than the water their in. This is the background information about buoyancy. Density also plays another important role with fluids; for example if you put oil, water and honey in the same glass, youll see the oil floats to the top and the honey sinks to

Density and Buoyancy Essay

the bottom. This is called superposition; the process where fluids assort themselves according to their density. This is another role density plays relating to fluids. Density is also affected by temperature; many materials expand when heated. The most common example of this is a hot air balloon, the balloon gains positive buoyancy because the hot air decreases the density of it, therefore making the balloon float. These are some more important facts about density and buoyancy. Density and buoyancy can be used in different ways; both in the science world and in everyday life. Density is used to determine how compact something is, and buoyancy is the ability to float on fluids. A real-life application of this knowledge is making a ship or even swimming in a pool. In conclusion, whether youre a scientist or a regular person, density and buoyancy is important to everyone.