Since the water density/pressure gets really really high in deep depths, and since the Mariana's Trench is over 35,000 ft deep, wouldn't the rock only sink down to a certain depth before coming to a stop and floating about 10-20 thousand feet deep?
At what depth would a normal fist sized slate rock be lighter/less dense than the water around it and thus float?
2007-03-11 13:53:39 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
sadi carnot is right. However if the rock that you droped was made of some sort of carbonate, such as limestone it will start to dissolve at about 4 to 5ooo meters depth. This depth is know as the carbon compensation depth. This is where the dissolution is greater than precipitation. So, even if your limestone rock made it to the bottom it will eventually dissolve.
2007-03-11 16:32:16 · answer #1 · answered by Professor Kitty 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We do not know how deep the Marianas Trench, but we know that it is over 21,000 feet. The rock lets say weighs 5 pounds, as the rock sinks the pressure from the water above it and the water below would eventually equalize and the rock would not sink nor rise any more. So theoretically if you could go down to a certain depth you would see a whole bunch of floating rocks. Hmmmm....
2007-03-11 13:59:24 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
monkey man is 100% wrong.
Pressure has no effect on whether something sinks or floats. As he said, pressure above and below the rock is around the same. Since pressure = force / area, and the rock has the same area on both sides, the force of water will be the same. Gravitational force will pull the rock down.
Water is almost incompressible (1.8% at 4000M), so the change in the density of water would not be enough to overcome the density of the rock.
2007-03-11 14:04:52 · answer #3 · answered by sadi carnot 1 · 5⤊ 0⤋
a "normal" rock weighs about 2.8 times that of water. The rock would continue to fall to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Bouyancey could not overcome it's weight and water displacement.
2007-03-11 16:55:15 · answer #4 · answered by David A 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Deepest Fist
2016-12-12 12:28:51 · answer #5 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the rock did not displace its weight at the top and sank and would continue to do so. Actually I believe the trench is closer to 36,000 feet.
2007-03-11 14:07:49 · answer #6 · answered by orion_1812@yahoo.com 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋