This project idea comes to you from Venture Engineering and Science Camp in Hamilton, Ontario. To investigate the concepts of buoyancy, density, and transmitted pressures.
Objects float or sink as a result of their density.
Density can be described as the amount of weight in a specific volume. According to Archimedes' principle, an object will be buoyed up by a force that is equal to the weight of water that it displaces. A boat may be heavy but it also pushes a lot of water out of the way, making its relative density low so that it floats. The relative density of a brick is more than the density of water because it does not displace very much of the water. As a result, a brick sinks in water.