Since we’ve talked a little about bouyancy, I thought I’d share a video on buoyancy by one of my favorite science educators – Bill Nye the Science Guy.
This video covers how water displacement is related to buoyancy and explains that the weight of the water displaced by an object is the same as the weight of the object. Bill Nye provides several visual examples to help kids understand this concept.
It also explains that shape matters. The shape of an object effects if it floats or sinks. It shows an example of the classic “make your own clay boat” investigation.
There is also some history presented with the story of Archimedes shouting “Eureka!” and running down the street naked when he discovered the principle of water displacement and it’s relationship to volume.
The video also shows how to make a “submarine in a bottle” using some clay and a pen cap. This is also known as a Cartesian diver.
Bill Nye gives several examples of neutral buoyancy and how this relates to submarines and scuba divers. He shows a great human powered submarine project. There is even a short segment on how buoyancy doesn’t just apply to water and uses a hot air balloon as an example of buoyancy in air.
This article is part of the Density and Buoyancy series. See the list below for links to the other articles in this series.
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