If we did all things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.

– Thomas A. Edison

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Floating Bodies - Multiple Choice Questions

The weight of a floating body is equal to the weight of the displaced liquid. Questions based on this law of floatation can often be found in Medical and Engineering entrance test papers. Consider the following M.C.Q.:
A toy boat containing a piece of ice is floating in kerosene contained in a beaker. If the piece of ice is gently transferred to kerosene in the beaker, the level of kerosene in the beaker is
(a) lowered (b) raised (c) unchanged (d) first lowered and then raised (e) first raised and then lowered.
You should note that ice is denser than kerosene. So, on transferring the piece of ice in the toy boat to kerosene, it sinks, displacing a volume of kerosene equal to its own volume. When the piece of ice was in the toy boat, it could displace a greater volume of kerosene since the displaced kerosene should have the weight of the piece of ice. The level of kerosene is therefore lowered on transferring the ice to kerosene. The correct option is (a). If the ice melts without change of temperature, the correct option will still be (a), since the water so formed is certainly denser than kerosene and will sink, displacing a smaller volume of kerosene..
If you had a piece of iron instead of the piece of ice in the boat, the correct option would still be (a). But if you had a piece of cork instead, the level of kerosene will remain unchanged on transferring it to kerosene, since the density of cork is less than that of kerosene and it will float when overboard. (Inside the boat also it is a floating body and it will displace the same quantity of kerosene).
Now, consider the following question:
A toy boat containing an ice cube is floating in water contained in a beaker. The level of water in the beaker is noted. When the ice cube in the boat is gently transferred to water in the beaker, it melts without change of temperature. Then the level of water in the beaker is
(a) lowered (b) raised (c) unchanged (d) first raised and then lowered (e) first lowered and then raised.
The correct option here is (c) because the ice cube, while floating along with the boat, can displace a volume of water that has its own weight. On melting, the water produced will have the same volume and hence there is no change in the water level.
The boat in this problem is just a minor distraction. The answer is unchanged even if there is no boat and the ice cube is floating in water.
Now, suppose there is an iron nail on an ice cube floating in water contained in a beaker. If the ice melts without change of temperature, the level of water in the beaker will be lowered since the iron nail while floating along with ice can displace a greater volume of water.
A wooden log (density 700 kgm-3) of mass 2100 kg floats in water. How much weight should be placed on it to make it just sink?
(a) 4800 kg (b) 2100 kg (c) 900 kg (d) 700 kg (e) 600 kg
The volume of the wooden log = 2100/700 =3 m3. While floating, the wooden log displaces water having weight 2100kg. Since the density of water is 1000 kgm-3, the volume of the displaced water is 2100/1000 = 2.1 m3. The additional volume of water to be displaced by the wooden log on making it just sink is 3 – 2.1 = 0.9 m3. Weight of this additional volume of water = 0.9×1000 = 900 kg. This is the weight to be placed on the wooden log to make it just sink.

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