You place a block of wood into a beaker of water and it floats. What can you say about the buoyant force on the block?

1 Answer
Apr 26, 2016

The buoyant force is stronger than the gravity force (the block's weight). Consequently, the block's density is smaller than water's density.

Explanation:

Archimedes principle affirms that a body submerged in a fluid (for example a liquid, or more precisely, water) experiences an upward force equal to the weight of fluid (liquid, water) displaced.

Mathematically,

buoyant force = F_b = V_b *d_w*g=Fb=Vbdwg
V_b = Vb= body volume
d_w = dw= water density
g = g= gravity acceleration

while the weight W= V_b*d_b*gW=Vbdbg

d_b= body densitydb=bodydensity

As the body floats => F_b > W => d_w>d_bFb>Wdw>db