Department of Science for Technology

BTC1032/ETC1032/ITC1023
Physics for Technology I

Practical 03
Registration Number: …………….

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Archimedes’ Principle
1. Introduction
Everybody knows the story’s punch line: a man is so excited by the idea that came to him in a
bathtub that he runs naked to the Emperor’s palace, screaming “Eureka!” But what exactly was
the idea that made Archimedes forget the dress code? Survey your friends who are not taking this
Physics course, and most are likely to respond with some description of buoyancy: a body
immersed in a fluid experiences a buoyant force equal to the weight of the displaced fluid. That’s
important enough, and Archimedes did author a very concise formulation of the buoyancy
principle. However, boats floated long before Archimedes came along. Why would a better
formulation of an old idea excite the respected philosopher so? The true story of “Eureka!” is
somewhat more subtle.
Archimedes figured out a way to use the buoyant force to solve a very important practical
problem of catching the crooks who were defrauding the treasury by passing a gold-silver alloy
coins as pure gold ones. Before you continue reading the next paragraph, spend a few minutes
trying to think of a solution to this challenge. It’s not an easy one! Archimedes’ solution (which
brought him both the satisfaction of resolving a intellectual challenge and a considerable
monetary reward) could be implemented quickly and easily and required only the simplest of
tools: a balance scale, weights made of pure silver and pure gold, and a tub of water.
First, you had to use the weights made of gold balance out the unknown material. Then you
would submerge both sides of the balance in water. If the two arms remained balanced, then the
unknown material was also gold since the same mass of the material displaced the same volume
of water on both sides and thus both sides experienced the same buoyant force equal to the
weight of that water. If, however, the material was not really gold, its density was slightly
different from that of the pure gold, and the same mass would displace a different volume of
water. The buoyant force would be slightly different on the two sides of the balance scale, and
the submerged balance would tilt. In fact, by replacing the pure gold weights with a mix of gold
and silver weights and adjusting their ratio until the balance scale remained level in and out of
water, one could measure the exact make-up of the alloy — and to catch the crooks!
Hence, Archimedes' principle states that the upward buoyant force that is exerted on a body
immersed in a fluid, whether fully or partially submerged, is equal to the weight of the fluid

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that the body displaces and acts in the upward direction at the centre of mass of the displaced
fluid.
Every fluid applies the same pressure in every direction. When an object is partially or fully
submerged in a fluid, it experiences an upward pull from the fluid. The buoyant force produces
this upward push. From this experiment, one can observe the number of fluids like tap water and
saline water being displaced by the bob, which is attached by the spring balance. This is
happening because of the buoyant force. The object's weight appears to be lighter. The object's
lowered weight equals the weight of the fluid it has displaced. Archimedes established this
connection. Everything, from large ships to small boats, aeroplanes, and submarines, uses the
concept of buoyancy.
Procedure

Figure 01
The experiment set up is shown in Figure 01.
To determine the spring balance with the least count and zero error:
1. Attach a spring balance to an iron stand.
2. Examine the spring balance; it's the scale and least count.
3. Keep a record of your findings. If there is an error, note it as ‘x’.

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To find the weight of a solid metal bob in the air:

1. Take a metal bob, attach thread to it, and hang it from the spring balance's hook.
2. Keep track of the metal bob's weight in the air. Make this weight ‘W1’.

Calculate the weight of the metal bob submerged in tap water and note the apparent
weight decrease.
1. Take an overflow can and fill it with water until the water level reaches the
overflow can spout.
2. Keep an overflow container underneath the spring balance so that the metal bob is
completely submerged in the liquid.
3. Keep a beaker with a recorded weight of P1 near the overflow can spout.
4. The weight on the spring balancing scale must be immediately measured after the
metal bob is submerged in water. Due to buoyancy, there has been a weight
loss (W2)
5. Fill a beaker to the last drop with the water overflowing from the spout.
6. Weigh the water-filled beaker (P2).
7. Determine the weight of the water that has been displaced (P2-P1).
8. Determine the metal bob's weight loss after being submerged in water.

Find the weight of a metal bob submerged in saline water and note the apparent weight
reduction.
1. Prepare salty water by filling a 500 ml beaker with 300 ml of water,
adding common salt, and stirring until the saturated solution is achieved.
2. Take the same metal bob, and carry out steps from 1 to 8 in accordance with
above procedure.
3. Prepare a table of your findings.

Demonstration
Please follow this link to watch a video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p-hwElkrlk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQsmq3Hu9H

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Activity
1. Fill in the blanks.
Fluids are substances that flow, such as ..……… and ………....
The buoyant force, often known as buoyancy, is the ……… push that fluids apply to any object.
Thrust is the force applied to a body perpendicular to its surface.
The thrust per unit area is called pressure. Hence, pressure = ………………….

Weight of the body = …………………

A body moves some liquid when submerged in water or another liquid.

Total volume of the solid = volume of liquid displaced.

The displacement of liquid's mass can be calculated as:
Mass of the liquid displaced= ………………. × density
Weight of the liquid displaced = volume × density × g (acceleration)
𝑊 = 𝑉×ρ×𝑔
If body weight in the atmosphere is W1 and body weight while submerged in liquid is W2, then:
Loss in weight = ……………………..

2. Two tables (A and B) obtained from such an experiment are given below. What can you
deduce from the readings?
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3. Why do you feel light when you are swimming?

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4. Why do plastic bottles float in water?
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5. State two precautions that should be observed while making use of an overflow-can.
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6. When a crown of mass 14.7 kg (m = v ρcrown) is submerged in water, the scale reads only
13.4 kg. Find the apparent weight loss, the volume (v) of the crown and density of the
crown (ρ crown).
If the density of gold and water are given as 19,300 kgm-3and 1000 kgm-3 respectively,
then explain whether this crown is completely made of gold.

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