Archimedes’ Principle

Some ships weigh hundreds or thousands of tons, yet they float. How is that possible?! The answer begins with one of the oldest and most famous story in the history of science. Imagine you were going to take a bath, you fill the bath right up to the very brim, and then you sit down in it. What do you think will happen? Lots and LOTS of water would come pouring onto the floor(don’t try it unless you want to do a lot of mopping up afterwards!!) According to the story this is just what happened to the scientist Archimedes, he sat in an overly full bathtub an then lots and LOTS of water came pouring out! Archimedes had been thinking about why some things float while others float, it couldn’t be a matter of weight because Greek ships were very heavy and yet a tiny pebble sinks to the bottom of the sea. What Archimedes found in this bathtub was the law of buoyancy(this is usually known as Archimedes principle in his honor!). Archimedes principle says: Any floating object pushes aside or displaces its own weight of water. So if a boat weighs 500 pounds it must push aside 500 pounds of water.