Curated OER
Technology of the Deep: Experiments with Buoyant Forces
Young scholars conduct a series of experiments to study the effects of temperature and salinity on the buoyancy of an object in water. They devise ways to make floating and sinking objects neutrally buoyant.
Curated OER
What Floats Your Boat?
Students are introduced to the concept of buoyancy. The Video used in this lesson plan demonstrates and explains the characteristics of objects that sink and float. It presents the concepts of displacement, weight, and buoyancy.
Curated OER
Buoyancy-Why Things Float
In this buoyancy worksheet, students read about the principles behind objects floating including density, buoyancy and Archimedes' Principle. Students complete a buoyancy lab where they use a balloon and water and a film canister and...
Teach Engineering
Determining Densities
Don't be dense—use a robust resource. The second installment of a five-part Floaters and Sinkers unit has learners determine the densities of several objects. As part of the activity, they learn the displacement method for finding...
DiscoverE
Design a Flotation Device
Save the soup! Scholars devise a flotation device using straws, balloons, foam, corks, and other objects. A can of soup must stay afloat for at least a minute with this device—your dinner might depend on it!
Curated OER
Science - "Why does it float?" - Exploring the Concept of Density
In this density worksheet, students read about density, volume and mass. They then use what they learned to answer the 8 questions on the page. The answers are on the last page.
Curated OER
Will it Float?
First graders discuss why some things sink and some float after dropping a variety of items into water.
Curated OER
WHY DO SOME THINGS FLOAT WHILE OTHERS SINK
Students explore how density can cause things to sink or float by experimenting with a jar, oil and corn syrup.
Curated OER
Floating
First graders discuss with the teacher if everything will float in water. They observe a marble and determine whether it will float making predictions as a class. After observing the results, they discover that liquids exert an upward...
Curated OER
What Floats Your Boat?
This open-ended boat building exercise is meant to be part of a three-lesson series on ships. Links to the other two lessons are included. This particular part is mostly a group lab activity in which they build a boat, find its load line...
Curated OER
Float or Sink?
Learners examine why some objects float while others do not. They place various objects in water to observe their floating capability. Students record the object, its weight, and if the object floated. They construct a graph plotting...
Curated OER
Day Six: Floater What Ifs
Learners observe earth science by examining results from an experiment. In this buoyancy lesson, students practice floating different items in two different liquids and identify why certain objects will float and others sink. Learners...
Teach Engineering
What Floats Your Boat?
Clay's as good a material as any to build a boat, right? An introductory lesson sets the stage for two activities associated with buoyancy. The first involves building boats out of clay, while the second uses these boats to measure the...
Museum of Science
Design a Submarine
Don't just sink the boat. Using a closed container as a submarine, pupils experiment to see what to add to the container to make it float, sink to the bottom, and hover in the middle. After finding one option, learners see if they can...
University of Waikato
Buoyancy in Water
Change where an object floats in water. Pupils experiment with a Cartesian diver by squeezing on the side of a plastic bottle. Learners pay attention to the bulb of the pipette as the bottle is squeezed to determine what is happening...
Curated OER
Heavy Ice: Day Five
Students explore physics by conducting a class experiment. In this density lesson, students examine a list of items and discuss whether they will sink or float and then determine their density. Students examine the objects over five days...
Curated OER
How Does the USS Alabama Float?
Students investigate buoyancy. In this buoyancy lesson, students apply the Archimedes Principle of Buoyancy to the experiment conducted in class to determine how battleships float.
Curated OER
Deducing Density
In this deducing density worksheet, students follow the procedures to set up an experiment about objects floating in water and liquids of different densities, answer questions, collect data and complete charts.
Curated OER
Move that Tower
Students investigate ways to find the density of irregular shaped objects. In this physics lesson plan, students calculate density using its mass and volume. They explain why some objects float or sink in water.
Cornell University
Buoyancy
Swimmers know to float by turning their bodies horizontally rather than vertically, but why does that make a difference? In an interesting lesson, scholars explore buoyancy and the properties of air and water. They test cups to see which...
Curated OER
Sink or Float?
Young scholars analyze the relationship between density, buoyancy, and salinity. In this chemical properties lesson, students read a background activity for the lesson and experiments to the topics. Young scholars discuss the questions...
Curated OER
Condiment Diver: The World's Simplest Cartesian Diver
Students examine buoyancy. In this density lesson students form a hypothesis, collect data and draw a conclusion using the data.
Curated OER
Density: Floating, Sinking, and Suspending
Students observe teacher demonstrations that illustrate density. In this density lesson plan, the teacher demonstrates how air bubbles in a carbonated drink can cause a raisin to float and how an egg sinks in fresh water, but floats in...
Curated OER
Properties of Matter: "Sink or Swim"
Third graders recognize that different materials have different properties which can be observed such as texture and bouyancy, and compare and contrast, through observation, ability of some objects to float because of action of...