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Testable hypotheses for buoyancy?

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 9:28 pm
by santeeclauzquf
My 6 year old daughter is interested in doing a science project based on buoyancy (she is fascinated with Titanic and we're interested in doing something she can - at least tangentially - tie back to buoyancy). I am mostly seeking ideas for a hypothesis we can test, something age appropriate.

We'll have whatever basic supplies we'd need (fish tank, material or implements to demonstrate basic properties, etc.).

Any ideas are welcomed!

Thanks.

Re: Testable hypotheses for buoyancy?

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 11:13 am
by kgudger
Hello and welcome to the forums:

Science Buddies has a buoyancy experiment here: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ml#summary. If you just look at the buoyancy part it sounds similar to what you want to do.

The key to buoyancy is the effective density of the material you're testing vs. water. I've used washers in empty pill bottles to demonstrate neutral buoyancy. You might want to look at the weight of the container vs. the volume of the container (which is the density) to determine buoyancy of any object. Have fun!

Best, Keith