why does some kinds of canned soup float and not others?

Question

Science fair project. She needs to know why some soups float and others sink. An explanation of why they float..does it have to do with weight, contents, density??? Mom's a science dummy so any little bit of information will help

Answer 1

Super Hero is here to save the situation & answer ur question
:D

Sure, its about density (and many other things BUT density is the most important one)
i think u know that the less desity materials floats over the higher density ones if they came together

Examples:
1) Wood & water:
Wood floats on water surface becouse of the density, wood's density is less than water's density
2) Ships & seas (oceans):
Although ships r made of iron, BUT they r relativily hollow from inside (even when it is filled with people, goods, ...etc), that makes its average density smaller than density of water
3) Air & heluim:
The density of Heluim gas is less than the density of air, so the ballon fill with Heluim gas when it left freely, it goes up in the air without stopping

So according to density, the soaps float on water surface have less density than density of water & vice versa

Answer 2

The most correct answer is buoyancy which is related to density.

Buoyancy, a measure of force, is equal to the weight of the fluid being displaced, in this case water. So if the water displaced weighs more than the can it will float.

So how is density related, well density doesn't take the pull due to gravity into account, but since gravity effects the soup can and it's contents, the same as the water. so it is true that if the density of the soup cans and it's contents is less than water it will float.

This could be caused by one of more of the contents of the can have density less than water. Most likely suspect would be the head space in the can which is the amount of trapped air inside the can but some of the ingredients could also be less dense than water.

Since someone already brought up the boat thing density would cause a boat to sink like a rock the material of a boat are much more dense than water especially large metal boats. But because of its shape it displaces a lot more water and thus the buoyant force makes it float on the water.

Also what the hell is "average density" supposed to be? This is not a proper term for anything, if you are going to answer please know what you are talking about.

Answer 3

I guess both the weight & density play the role if the content in this case is the volume, as you devide the mass( weight) with it's volume the result density should be lower than the Surrounding density in order to keep it float.

Answer 4

It can depend on a lot of things like how less the soup is in the can - there is then more air that can be more equal to the upthrust of water.
Also yes it can be to do with the density of the soup, or how heavy the can is.
It depends

Answer 5

It has to do with the density of the soup.

Answer 6

what it is is that the soups are made of differenet things like some is water based and others broth based. So yes it is all to do with that if you need more info just ask [do it in a answer to my question] and ill help all that I can

Answer 7

I believe what determines whether or not a can of soup will float is whether it weighs the same as a duck.