American Chemical Society
Middle School Chemistry: Density: Sink and Float for Solids
Students determine whether an object will sink or float by comparing its density to the density of water.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: How Much Weight Can Your Boat Float?
Have you ever wondered how a ship made of steel can float? In this project you'll investigate how much weight boat hulls of various shapes and sizes can support without sinking.
American Chemical Society
Inquiry in Action: Changing the Density of a Liquid: Heating and Cooling
In this activity, students will investigate whether the temperature of water affects its density. Students will place colored hot and cold water in a cup of room-temperature water to see that cold water sinks while hot water floats. Then...
American Chemical Society
Inquiry in Action: Compare the Density of an Object to the Density of Water
In this activity, students use tea light candle holders and a student-made balance to compare the weight of equal volumes of wax, water, and clay. Students will discover that since the wax weighs less than an equal volume of water, it is...
American Chemical Society
Inquiry in Action: Changing the Density of a Liquid: Adding Salt
In this activity, students will see that a carrot slice sinks in fresh water and floats in saltwater. Considering the placement of the carrot slice in water and salt water, students will infer that the density of salt water must be...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Clay Boats
Each student uses a small quantity of modeling clay to make a boat that will float in a tub of water. The object is to build a boat that will hold as much weight as possible without sinking. In the process of designing and testing their...
American Chemical Society
Inquiry in Action: Changing the Density of an Object: Adding Material
In this activity, students see that a can of regular cola sinks while a can of diet cola floats. As a demonstration, bubble wrap is taped to the can of regular cola to make it float. This high-volume but light-weight material increases...