does shape affect buoyancy?

Question

soo cunfused :S

Answer 1

It CAN, but it's not the only factor in buoyancy. Take a bowl for example. Bowls will often float. But if you take two bowls of identical shape, one made of wood which has cells with air in it, and one of metal with no oxygen cells in it, then the wooden bowl would be more buoyant, and float higher out of the water.

And, of course, if you change the shape of the metal bowl by flattening it, the metal bowl would sink. The wooden bowl would not sink though, due to the oxygen in the wooden bowls cells. But then, you couldn't flatten a wooden bowl anyway, as it would simply break.

Answer 2

Shape only affects buoyancy in as much as it can cause air to be trapped in the shape and keep water out. A block of steel doesn't float, but if you make it into a boat, that floats, because it contains air.

Ultimately, the buoyant force is given by:
Buoyant force = density of fluid * g * volume displaced

Answer 3

Ingeneral no. The only thing that affects buoyancy is the amount of fluid displaced. If the body has a concave bottom surface that can 'trap' air and make the apparent voume larger, I guess it might affect buoyancy. But buoyant force is simply the force exerted due to the mass of fluid displaced.

Doug

Answer 4

shape affect buoyancy