A activity where students learn how warm water is less dense than cold water, and what this means for global climate change as ice from the polar regions melts. Students will do experiments in buoyancy and water density when hot or cold,...

This lesson introduces students to the important concept of density. The focus is on the more easily understood densities of solids, but students can also explore the densities of liquids and gases. Students devise methods to determine...

For this lesson, students will investigate why the Cartesian diver dives and rises in a 2 liter bottle. They will also, through their own discovery, come up with a question and then change one variable and record their results. Students...

Students observe Archimedes' principle in action in this challenge where a toy boat is placed in a container of water and a rock is placed on the floating boat. Students must explain why the water level rises/falls/stays the same based...

Each student uses a small quantity of modeling clay to make a boat that will float in a tub of water. The object is to build a boat that will hold as much weight as possible without sinking. In the process of designing and testing their...

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Definition of buoyant force and how weight and density relate to buoyant force and the ability to float.

This project presents an interesting puzzle. A disk of wood will float face-up, that is, with its circular cross-section parallel to the surface of the water. A long log of wood, however, floats with the circular cross-section...

Describes the properties of seawater and the variations depending on its location, e.g., near a shoreline, in an estuary, or as sea ice. Discusses the instruments scientists use to measure the density of water and explains other...

In this lab, learners will use the scientific method to design an experiment that explains how/why a submarine floats and sinks.

Students discover fluid dynamics related to buoyancy through experimentation and optional photography. Using one set of fluids, they make light fluids rise through denser fluids. Using another set, they make dense fluids sink through a...

In this activity, students investigate the history of density, its uses, and applications. Students will generate and calculate data applying it to a graph. They will be looking at the relationship between mass and volume.

Become an engineer, and design a submarine that moves in the water like a real submarine. Try making it sink, float, and hover in the water.

Tells the story of how Archimedes discovered the Archimedes Principle and his water displacement method for determining the volume and density of an object. Provides an explanation and several examples of how it is done.

Engage students in the study of the ocean and saltwater with these activities. Students will see that saltwater has different physical properties than freshwater - mainly density. This lesson can serve as a springboard into other...

By the end of this section, you will be able to define buoyant force, state Archimedes' principle, understand why objects float or sink, and understand the relationship between density and Archimedes' principle.

Students use modeling clay, a material that is denser than water and thus ordinarily sinks in water, to discover the principle of buoyancy. They begin by designing and building boats out of clay that will float in water, and then refine...

From a chapter on Fluid Statics in a Physics textbook. This section of the chapter provides a detailed discussion of Archimedes' principle, buoyant force, floating and sinking, and the role of density. Includes questions, problems and...

Five lessons about the study of fluid mechanics. The unit concludes with students applying what they have learned to determine the stability of individual above-ground storage tanks given specific storm conditions so they can analyze...

Learn how salt increases the density of water and creates a condition of buoyancy.

SPRK STEM challenges are fun, interactive activities that challenge students to use creativity and team-work to move through simple steps of the design process in order to build Sphero-based creations. The Hydro-hypothesis challenge...

Students learn about displacement, density and buoyancy then apply their knowledge to build a floating object.

Windows only - Interact with the tectonic plates of the Earth and see how changing variables affects the plates.

Students observe Pascal's law, Archimedes' principle, and the ideal gas law as a Cartesian diver moves within a closed system.

Explore how plates move on the surface of the earth. Change temperature, composition, and thickness of plates. Discover how to create new mountains, volcanoes, or oceans! Java is required.