TUTORIAL 3 : BOUYANCY FORCE

1. What is buoyant force? What causes it? What is the magnitude of the buoyant
force acting on a submerged body whose volume is V?

2. Consider two identical spherical balls submerged in water at different depths.

Will the buoyant forces acting on these two balls be the same or different?
Explain.

3. Consider two 5-cm-diameter spherical balls, one made of aluminum, the other
made of iron, submerged in water. Will the buoyant forces acting on these two
balls be the same or different? Explain.

4. Consider a 3 kg copper cube and a 3 kg copper ball submerged in a liquid.

Will the buoyant forces acting on these two bodies be the same or different?
Explain.

5. The volume and the average density of an irregularly shaped body are to be
determined by using a spring scale. The body weighs 7200 N in air and 4790
N in water. Determine the volume and the density of the body. State your
assumptions.

6. A 170-kg granite rock (ρ = 2700 kg/m3) is dropped into a lake. A man dives in
and tries to lift the rock. Determine how much force the man needs to apply to
lift it from the bottom of the lake. Do you think he can do it?

7. A cylinder is floating in a fluid as shown in Fig. 7.

(a) If the fluid has a specific gravity of 0.80, determine the density of
cylinder.
(b) If the cylinder is put into the fresh water, determine the new buoyancy
distance.
(c) A brass plate with the specific weight 84 kN/m3 is to be attached to the
bottom of cylinder so that the cylinder will be completely submerged in
the water. If the brass plate is to have the same diameter with the
original cylinder, determine the required thickness of the brass plate.

Siti Mariam Basharie ▪FKMP▪ 2010 ® 1

 Fig. 7
8. Consider a large cubic ice block floating in seawater. The specific gravities of
ice and seawater are 0.92 and 1.025, respectively.

(a) If a 10 cm high portion of the ice block extends above the surface
of the water, determine the height of the ice block below the
surface. Answer: 87.6 cm
(b) Determine the cross-sectional area of the ice block if the floating
portion decreases 7 cm when a fisherman with a weight of 700 N
stands on it.
(c) If there is another fisherman with the weight of 780 N, determine
whether the ice block sink or still floating.

Siti Mariam Basharie ▪FKMP▪ 2010 ® 2

EXTRA EXERCISE

3.1 A raft made of four hollow drums supporting a platform as shown in Fig. E3.1.
Each drum weighs 133.8 N. How much total weight of the platform and
anything placed on it can the raft support when the drums are completely
submerged in fresh water?.

Fig. E3.1

3.2 A 7 cm diameter solid aluminium ball (SG = 2.7) and a solid brass ball (SG =
8.5) balance nicely when submerged in a liquid as shown in Fig. E3.2.

(i) What in the diameter of brass ball if the fluid is water.

(ii) If the brass ball has a diameter of 3.8 cm, what is the density of the
fluid.

Siti Mariam Basharie ▪FKMP▪ 2010 ® 3

 Fig. E3.2

Siti Mariam Basharie ▪FKMP▪ 2010 ® 4