Science 7

Archimedes Principle: How does

buoyancy work?

Who was Archimedes?

Archimedes was an Ancient Greek Mathematician, Physicist, engineer,
inventor and astronomer. He was born in Syracuse Italy and he was
regarding as one of the leading Scientist in his time.
Archimedes Principle states that:
an object immersed in a fluid is buoyed up by a force equal to the
weight of the displaced fluid.

Remember: Then the rock is immersed in water, it displaces

water.The class test rock:

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Answer the following questions:

1. How do we calculate the
amount of water the rock
displaces?
We put the displaced water in a
cylinder and we would weigh it.
Then we subtract the weight of
the cylinder therefore giving us
the weight of the displaced water
2. How do we determine the
mass/weight of the displaced
water?
We fill a beaker to the top of its
capacity, we put a container
underneath the beaker to catch
any remaining water. Then we
gently lower the rock in the
beaker causing the water capacity
in the beaker to overflow on the
container underneath the beaker
therefore giving us the weight of the rock. With the spilt water on the
separate container we fill the water in a beaker and weigh it, by
weighing the displaced water gives us the weight of rock. Finally, you
subtract the weight of the beaker to the weight of the rock and beaker
to give us the final weight of the rock. To prove this to be correct you
can weigh the rock on a scale.
3. Why does the rock sink? (hint: are the applied forces equal?)
The rock sinks because the rocks gravity is greater than the buoyant
force acting on it
4. In your words, explain Archimedes Principle as demonstrated
in our rock water demo.
In Our rock water demo, We put the rock on a spring scale and has a
mass of 110g. When placed the rock in a cylinder container and filled
with 600ml. When we submerged the rock, the mass changed
drastically by 70g. The amount of displaced water was 50ml. Placing
that water in a separate beaker and weighed it, the mass of the water
was 156g. then weighed the beaker to have a mass of 111.8g. Then we
subtracted the 156g- 111.8g= 44.2g of the displaced water. It has
showed us how the Archimedes Principle works. When we immersed

Science 7

the rock in the water it pushed some water over the edge of the
container. We call this the displaced water. What we found was that
weight of the displaced water was equal to the buoyancy that is acting
upon the rock. This buoyant force is pushing up on the rock.
Buoyancy is why things in water are lighter when submerged in water.
This is the Archimedes Principle.