When do bubbles cause a floating body to sink?
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Authors
Denardo, Bruce
Pringle, Leonard
DeGrace, Carl
McGuire, Michael
Subjects
Advisors
Date of Issue
2001-10
Date
Publisher
American Association of Physics Teachers
Language
Abstract
The introduction of gas bubbles into a liquid might be expected to cause a relatively large floating body to sink when the average density of the fluid is less than the average density of the body. However, the rising bubbles could entrain the liquid, which would produce an upward drag on the body and thus lower the fluid density required to sink the body. Due to this drag, it is in fact not clear whether any amount of bubbles can cause a floating body to sink. In addition, there are many other effects that could alter the requisite fluid density. We describe qualitative lecture demonstrations which show that bubbles can indeed sink a body, including the case of ice in water. We also describe a quantitative experiment to determine the density of bubbly water required to sink a spherical body. The specific gravity of this body is varied from 0.99 to 0.75, and the results are compared to a simple theory.
Type
Article
Description
The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.1383600#
Series/Report No
Department
Physics
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Naval Postgraduate School
University of Mississippi
University of Mississippi
Funder
Format
9 p.
Citation
B. Denardo, L. Pringle, C. DeGrace, M. McGuire, "When do bubbles cause a floating body to sink?", American Journal of Physics, v. 69, no.10 (October 2001), pp. 1064-1072.
Distribution Statement
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.