College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
2B40.18 - Beakers or Boards and Masses
Place the beaker with a mass in the center into a tank of water. Keep adding masses until the beaker sinks. The beaker has a volume of just over 1400 cc's so it will take approximately that much mass before the beaker will sink.
Place the blocks with the attached masses into a tank of water. The one with two masses will sink while the one with one mass will float.
- Terrence Toepker, "Archimedes Revisited and Beyond", TPT, Vol. 61, #9, Dec. 2023, p. 780.
- Robert Ehrlich, "H.2, Sinking a Floating Block", Turning the World Inside Out, p. 97.
- Julius Sumner Miller, Q134 & A134, Millergrams II – Some More Enchanting Questions for Enquiring Minds, p. 22 & 83.
Disclaimer: These demonstrations are provided only for illustrative use by persons affiliated with The University of Iowa and only under the direction of a trained instructor or physicist. The University of Iowa is not responsible for demonstrations performed by those using their own equipment or who choose to use this reference material for their own purpose. The demonstrations included here are within the public domain and can be found in materials contained in libraries, bookstores, and through electronic sources. Performing all or any portion of any of these demonstrations, with or without revisions not depicted here entails inherent risks. These risks include, without limitation, bodily injury (and possibly death), including risks to health that may be temporary or permanent and that may exacerbate a pre-existing medical condition; and property loss or damage. Anyone performing any part of these demonstrations, even with revisions, knowingly and voluntarily assumes all risks associated with them.