Buoyancy

In physics, buoyancy is the upward force on an object produced by the surrounding fluid (i.e., a liquid or a gas) in which it is fully or partially immersed, due to the pressure difference of the fluid between the top and bottom of the object. The net upward buoyancy force is equal to the magnitude of the weight of fluid displaced by the body. This force enables the object to float or at least to appear lighter. Buoyancy is important for many vehicles such as boats, ships, balloons, and airships.

Forces and equilibrium

Buoyancy provides an upward force on the object. The magnitude of this force is equal to the weight of the displaced fluid. (Displacement is the term used for the weight of the displaced fluid and, thus, is an equivalent term to buoyancy.) The buoyancy of an object depends, therefore, only upon two factors: the object's volume, and the density of the surrounding fluid. The greater the object's volume and surrounding density, the higher the buoyancy.

If the buoyancy of an (unrestrained and unpowered) object exceeds its weight, it will tend to rise. And an object whose weight exceeds its buoyancy will tend to sink.

The atmosphere's density depends upon altitude. As an airship rises in the atmosphere, therefore, its buoyancy reduces as the density of the surrounding air reduces. The density of water is essentially constant: As a submarine expels water from its buoyancy tanks (by pumping them full of air) it rises because its buoyancy stays the same (because volume of water it displaces stays the same) while its weight is decreased.

As a floating object rises or falls the forces external to it change and, as all objects are compressible to some extent or another, so will the object's volume. Buoyancy depends on volume and so an object's buoyancy reduces if it is compressed and increases if it expands.

If an object's compressibility is less than that of the surrounding fluid, it is in stable equilibrium and will, indeed, remain at rest, but if its compressibility is greater, its equilibrium is unstable, and it will rise and expand on the slightest upward perturbation, or fall and compress on the slightest downward perturbation.

The depth of a submarine tends to be unstable. A submarine is more compressible than the surrounding water. As depth increases, the resulting pressure causes the submarine's volume to decrease more than the volume of the surrounding water decreases. Buoyancy depends upon the object's volume and the weight of the displaced fluid. Volume has decreased so the the weight displaced has decreased which means a decrease in buoyancy and the submarine tends to sink further. A rising submarine expands more than the surrounding water, the submarine tends to rise further.

The height of a balloon tends to be stable. As a balloon rises it will tend to increase in volume with reducing atmospheric pressure. But the balloon's cargo will not expand. The average density of the balloon decreases less, therefore, than that of the surrounding air. The balloon's buoyancy reduces because the weight of the displaced air is reduced. A rising balloon tends to stop rising. Similarly a sinking balloon tends to stop sinking.

Buoyancy means the tendency of an object immersed in a fluid to float. Boats float in water and balloons float in air due to buoyancy. Everything pretty much has buoyant forces. The Battleship Arizona on the bottom of Pearl Harbor won't float but buoyant forces make it lighter. You weigh less because of the buoyant force of air. Buoyancy was known to the most primitive people who saw logs floating. Dugout canoes, birch bark canoes, and more sophisticated boats soon followed. Building a boat and understanding how it works are not the same, however. Buoyancy was not fully understood until the behavior of fluids was more fully studied.

Archimedes' principle

It was the ancient Greek, Archimedes of Syracuse, who first discovered the law of upthrust, sometimes called Archimedes' principle:

The upthrust is equal to the weight of the displaced fluid.

The weight of the displaced fluid is directly proportional to the volume of the displaced fluid (specifically if the surrounding fluid is of uniform density). Thus, among objects with equal masses, the one with greater volume has greater buoyancy.

Suppose a rock's weight is measured as 10 newtons when suspended by a string in a vacuum. Suppose that when the rock is lowered by the string into water, it displaces water of weight 3 newtons. The force it then exerts on the string from which it hangs will be 10 newtons minus the 3 newtons of buoyant force: 10 − 3 = 7 newtons.

The density of the immersed object relative to the density of the fluid is easily calculated without measuring any volumes:

${\mbox{Relative density}}={\frac {\mbox{Weight}}{{\mbox{Weight}}-{\mbox{Apparent immersed weight}}}}$

Density

If the weight of an object is less than the weight of the fluid the object would displace if it were fully submerged, then the object has an average density less than the fluid and has a buoyancy greater than its weight. If the fluid has a surface, such as water in a lake or the sea, the object will float at a level so it displaces the same weight of fluid as the weight of the object. If the object is immersed in the fluid, such as a submerged submarine or a balloon in the air, it will tend to rise.

If the object has exactly the same density as the liquid, then its buoyancy equals its weight. It will tend neither to sink nor float.

An object with a higher average density than the fluid has less buoyancy than weight and it will sink.

A ship floats because although it is made of steel which is more dense than water, it encloses a volume of air and the resulting shape has an average density less than that of water.

Applications

• Anderton Boat Lift
• Falkirk Wheel
• Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory

See also

• Buoyancy compensator
• Cartesian diver
• Diving weighting system
• Hull (ship)
• Hydrometer
• Lighter than air
• Naval architecture
• Negative buoyancy
• Pontoon
• Quicksand
• Submarine
• Thrust

External links

• Falling in Water (Animation 1)
• Falling in Water (Animation 2)
• Falling in Water