I take a standard bowling ball. I get into a rowboat with the bowling ball and row out into a lake. I then toss the ball overboard. What happens to the water level of the lake?
Originally posted by royalchicken I take a standard bowling ball. I get into a rowboat with the bowling ball and row out into a lake. I then toss the ball overboard. What happens to the water level of the lake?
Originally posted by royalchicken Oh. Yeah. After the ball falls into the water.
LOL!! I would imagine that the water level stays the same since it would have changed minutely when you got on the boat. Could be wrong though...happens oftern enough. 😀
Well, I'm in the boat before and after, so it shouldn't have any effect. Although if you like, I am 116 pounds and about the same density as water 😛
Or if you like assume that the ball goes into the boat, which gets shoved into the middle of the lake, then the ball rolls out.
Originally posted by royalchicken Well, I'm in the boat before and after, so it shouldn't have any effect. Although if you like, I am 116 pounds and about the same density as water 😛
Or if you like assume that the ball goes into the boat, which gets shoved into the middle of the lake, then the ball rolls out.
LOL!! It is the same answer. The water level wouldn't change until you got back on land. The bowling ball becomes superfluous. 😀
Originally posted by royalchicken I meant (again...explanation is apparently not my bag 😉) that I'm not in the boat at all.
Well, if we take you out of the boat all together.....whose going to row it? Just kidding....I would say that: 1) When the ball gets on the boat the water level rises; and, 2)when it falls off the boat (perhaps through third party levitation 😀) the water level stays the same. Is this also incorrect?
The first is correct. The ball is displacing its weight. But when it falls in, does the water (third party 😀) care how heavy it is, or just how big?
Originally posted by royalchicken The first is correct. The ball is displacing its weight. But when it falls in, does the water (third party 😀) care how heavy it is, or just how big?
It's been quite a while since I was in any kind of science class; but, it seems to me that it has to do with density, not size.
Originally posted by royalchicken Right. And what is density...?
LOL!! Oh, my brain...so much stuff to sort through...it seems that density is how much mass is actually there; as opposed to weight, which is a measure of gravitational pull on mass.....
Right. Density is the amount of mass per unit of volume (size). So the mass of the ball displaces water in the boat....but what about out of the boat? Is the ball denser than water?
Originally posted by royalchicken Right. Density is the amount of mass per unit of volume (size). So the mass of the ball displaces water in the boat....but what about out of the boat? Is the ball denser than water?
Just a thought, but it would seem that, being a solid, the ball by definition would have to be denser than water, which as we know is a liquid.
Bingo. So when we talk about a ball displacing its mass worth of water (in the boat), and its volume worth (in the water), which is the bigger displacement?
That's two posts for me on the hour, 1&2 am EST. Weird 🙂
Bowling for Seabed Grime
30 Aug '03 04:44
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