A large object previously floating on the surface of an ocean is caused to sink. Does it always sink to the bottom or might it find a depth in the ocean where it can float once again?
2007-11-17 11:28:10 · 13 answers · asked by Grant V 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Ignoring the specific detail of your scenario and answering what i think you are actually after. First ask, what causes an object to sink? If the object's density is greater than that of water, it will sink or in other words, if the object weighs more than its own volume made up of water, it will sink. Or a third way to put it, if the amount of water displaced when the object is put in water weighs less than the object itself, it will sink. It is true that water density increases with depth due to salinity increase etc. but so long as the object remains more dense (or either of the other two ways i put it) it will continue to sink. AND NO, pressure increase will not stop sinking! Water does not compress (in everyday terms) unless huge pressures are involved much greater even than found at the bottom of the oceans, therefore the density does not increase and we are back to the rules above.
2007-11-20 11:54:49 · answer #1 · answered by nurnord 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The temperature of the water is a variable, so is the amount of minerals diluted in it. Der fore the density of the water changes.
Relative density of 1 is only for pure water at 4 degrees C.
Any pure water at a different temperature will have a lower density and will try to come to the surface. "That is why Ice floats". If the concentration of salt diluted in the water is very high the density increase and gives more buoyancy(People float very easily in the dead sea).
Because of what we just said the deeper you go the greater the lift produced by the water displacement. Therefore, a body with a relative density close to 1 if it sinks will probably
find a layer of water with a higher relative density and it will stop from going further down. If the condition change dramatically it might even come back to the surface.
The opposite is easy to prove by immersing a hot body of relative density close to 1 into water at 4 degrees C and you can see the body floating.
After a little wile the body will sink.
This is because the body is cooling down and the water has warmed up.
2007-11-18 06:30:44 · answer #2 · answered by The Rugby Player 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it will always go to the bottom. the object will only sink if it is denser than the water and has little or no buoyency (think thats how you spell it), so it will only sink if it loses buoyancy, which it cant get back unless pulled to the surface and made boyant again. Or, if it becomes more dense than the water, which means that the density of the liquid is lower than that of the object, so there will be no resistance at any point, unless the liquid is not mixed, in which case the denser elements will be at the bottom, so yes the object may reach a point where one level is less dense than the liquid level it is in. but we are talking about a pure or mixed substance so no, it wont float in mid liquid
2007-11-17 19:44:51 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't think water's density increases with pressure... i thought liquids were incompressible -
BUT
The salinity and the temperature certainly WILL change with depth, sometimes markedly... so
NO, the object will sink untill it reaches a point where it's density is equal to the surrounding waters...
(unless it hits the bottom first!)
2007-11-17 20:53:20 · answer #4 · answered by Emma Jean 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If it contains a gas that is allowed to compress as the depth increases then it will reach a point where its weight and its buoyancy are equal and it will float, suspended in the water. This is how a submarine stays at a constant depth.
2007-11-17 19:36:15 · answer #5 · answered by colin p 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, as said before the object will reach a state where density of the water and the object equalise
The opposite happens with a hot air balloon, heat air up it expands becomes less dense and goes up, gets cold contracts becomes dense and comes down
2007-11-18 19:29:03 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It sinks to the point where it's density equals the density of the water. Waters density increases with pressure and hence with depth.
2007-11-17 20:04:45 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It sinks until its specific gravity equals that of the surrounding liquid. It's that simple.
2007-11-18 09:39:54 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
no some things don't always have enough density to sink to the bottom
2007-11-17 19:37:34 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It doesn't always have to hit bottom. It's a mass and volume issue.
2007-11-17 19:39:17 · answer #10 · answered by Jack 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋