How can anything float to the bottom?

Question

I was having this discussion with family yesterday, I say if it's going downwards in water it's sinking, but some of the others were saying it's floating down, which is correct? Thank you.

Answer 1

Someone should give either Owlwings or Batman a whistle. This could take some 'splainin.

To float:

be afloat; stay on a liquid surface; not sink

a float

something that remains on the surface of a liquid

In 'mericky it might mean to pickle a chicken whilst humming backwards or something strange, but otherwise I think that if it is anywhere except on top of the water, then it is by definition *not* floating.

I guess the "others" were trying to convey that it was sinking more slowly than, I dunno, a piece of lead for example.

Answer 2

If the weight of an object is less than the weight of the fluid the object would displace if it was fully submerged, then the object is less dense than the fluid and it floats at a level so it displaces the same weight of fluid as the weight of the object.

If the object has exactly the same density as the liquid, then it will stay still, neither sinking nor floating upwards, just as the liquid nearby stays still.

An object made of a material of higher density than the fluid, for example a metal object in water, can still float if it has a suitable shape (e.g. a hollow which is open upwards or downwards) that keeps a large enough volume of air below the surface level of the fluid. In that case, for the average density mentioned above, the air is included also, which may reduce this density to less than that of the fluid.

Answer 3

Oh, the nuances.
Depending upon the nature of the object going downward in the water, you are both correct.
If you were to drop a stone into the water, it would sink. That is, it would go directly to the bottom with no hesitation.
If you were to place a piece of paper into the water, and wait for it to become waterlogged and then it went to the bottom, it could still be called sinking, but the nature of the paper's movement would not be the same as the stone's. It would go slowly, with sideways movement, eventually settling on the bottom. Then you could correctly assert that the paper floated to the bottom of the water.

Answer 4

Well if you took the water out it would be floating (like leaves float down to the ground), but it's really sinking, unless what happens is it bobs up and down until it reaches the bottom and then it's boflagating :)

Answer 5

Floating is to remain suspended within or on the surface of a fluid without sinking. Or to be suspended in or move through space as if supported by a liquid. If it is going downward it is sinking, even if it's slowly.

Answer 6

It has to do with the language and not physics.
Float "up", sink "down". There is no other way.

UP the stairs or Down the stairs, depending on where you are.

Down East, Out west. Don't ask me why on this. That's the convention.

Down south, Up north. There are no other way to say it.

Things don't float down.
It is redundant and it nullifies what you are trying to describe, i.e., it confuses the listener.
It is like saying when asked what time is it: "It is ALMOST (or about) exactly 3.08 p.m."

It is either "about" or "exact" but not both in the same sentence.

Answer 7

Anything moving downward in water would be "sinking to the bottom". However, if one was referring to a leaf falling from a tree it could be described as "floating to the bottom".

Answer 8

Float has too meanings:

One is the opposite of "sink"
One is the same as "drift"--to meander aimlessly

When someone says something is "floating to the bottom" they don't mean that it isn't sinking, but that it is sinking slowly in a meandering way.

Hope that helps

Answer 9

If it's going to the bottome then it is sinking, not floating, but then once it is near the bottom, it may stop and not settle on the ground, or whatever you call it when it's underwater, so then it is hovering or floating underwater, near the bottom.

Answer 10

Sinking. Things don't "float" down.