Buoyancy

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For the 2019 film, see Buoyancy (film).

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The forces at work in buoyancy. The object floats at rest because the upward force of buoyancy is equal to the
downward force of gravity.

Continuum mechanics

Laws[show]

Solid mechanics[show]

Fluid mechanics[hide]

Fluids

 Statics · Dynamics
 Archimedes' principle · Bernoulli's
principle
  Navier–Stokes equations
 Poiseuille equation · Pascal's law
 Viscosity
(Newtonian · non-Newtonian)
 Buoyancy · Mixing · Pressure

Liquids

 Surface tension
 Capillary action

Gases

 Atmosphere
 Boyle's law
 Charles's law
 Gay-Lussac's law
 Combined gas law

Plasma

Rheology[show]

Scientists[show]

 v
 t
 e

Buoyancy (/ˈbɔɪənsi, ˈbuːjənsi/)[1][2] or upthrust, is an upward force exerted by
a fluid that opposes the weight of a partially or fully immersed object. In a column of
fluid, pressure increases with depth as a result of the weight of the overlying fluid. Thus
the pressure at the bottom of a column of fluid is greater than at the top of the column.
Similarly, the pressure at the bottom of an object submerged in a fluid is greater than at
the top of the object. The pressure difference results in a net upward force on the
object. The magnitude of the force is proportional to the pressure difference, and (as
explained by Archimedes' principle) is equivalent to the weight of the fluid that would
otherwise occupy the submerged volume of the object, i.e. the displaced fluid.
For this reason, an object whose average density is greater than that of the fluid in
which it is submerged tends to sink. If the object is less dense than the liquid, the force
can keep the object afloat. This can occur only in a non-inertial reference frame, which
either has a gravitational field or is accelerating due to a force other than
gravity defining a "downward" direction.[3]
 The center of buoyancy of an object is the centroid of the displaced volume of fluid.

Contents

 1Archimedes' principle

 2Forces and equilibrium

o 2.1Simplified model

o 2.2Static stability

 3Fluids and objects

o 3.1Compressible objects

 3.1.1Submarines

 3.1.2Balloons

 3.1.3Divers

 4Density

 5See also

 6References

 7External links

Archimedes' principle[edit]

A metallic coin (an old British pound coin) floats in mercury due to the buoyancy force upon it and appears to
float higher because of the surface tension of the mercury.

Main article: Archimedes' principle

The Galileo's Ball experiment, showing the different buoyancy of the same object, depending on its surrounding
medium. The ball has certain buoyancy in water, but once ethanol is added (which is less dense than water), it
reduces the density of the medium, thus making the ball sink further down (reducing its buoyancy).

Archimedes' principle is named after Archimedes of Syracuse, who first discovered this

law in 212 BC.[4] For objects, floating and sunken, and in gases as well as liquids (i.e.
a fluid), Archimedes' principle may be stated thus in terms of forces:
Any object, wholly or partially immersed in a fluid, is buoyed up by a force equal to the
weight of the fluid displaced by the object
—with the clarifications that for a sunken object the volume of displaced fluid is the
volume of the object, and for a floating object on a liquid, the weight of the displaced
liquid is the weight of the object.[5]
More tersely: buoyancy = weight of displaced fluid.
Archimedes' principle does not consider the surface tension (capillarity) acting on the
body,[6] but this additional force modifies only the amount of fluid displaced and the
spatial distribution of the displacement, so the principle that buoyancy = weight of
displaced fluid remains valid.
The weight of the displaced fluid is directly proportional to the volume of the displaced
fluid (if the surrounding fluid is of uniform density). In simple terms, the principle states
that the buoyancy force on an object is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the
object, or the density of the fluid multiplied by the submerged volume times the
gravitational acceleration, g. Thus, among completely submerged objects with equal
masses, objects with greater volume have greater buoyancy. This is also known as
upthrust.
Suppose a rock's weight is measured as 10 newtons when suspended by a string in
a vacuum with gravity acting upon it. Suppose that when the rock is lowered into water,
it displaces water of weight 3 newtons. The force it then exerts on the string from which
it hangs would be 10 newtons minus the 3 newtons of buoyancy force: 10 − 3 = 7
newtons. Buoyancy reduces the apparent weight of objects that have sunk completely
to the sea floor. It is generally easier to lift an object up through the water than it is to
pull it out of the water.
Assuming Archimedes' principle to be reformulated as follows,
then inserted into the quotient of weights, which has been expanded by the mutual
volume
yields the formula below. The density of the immersed object relative to the
density of the fluid can easily be calculated without measuring any volumes.:
(This formula is used for example in describing the measuring principle of
a dasymeter and of hydrostatic weighing.)
Example: If you drop wood into water, buoyancy will keep it afloat.
Example: A helium balloon in a moving car. During a period of increasing
speed, the air mass inside the car moves in the direction opposite to the car's
acceleration (i.e., towards the rear). The balloon is also pulled this way.
However, because the balloon is buoyant relative to the air, it ends up being
pushed "out of the way", and will actually drift in the same direction as the
car's acceleration (i.e., forward). If the car slows down, the same balloon will
begin to drift backward. For the same reason, as the car goes round a curve,
the balloon will drift towards the inside of the curve.

Forces and equilibrium[edit]

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The equation to calculate the pressure inside a fluid in equilibrium is:

where f is the force density exerted by some outer field on the fluid,
and σ is the Cauchy stress tensor. In this case the stress tensor is
proportional to the identity tensor:
Here δij is the Kronecker delta. Using this the above equation
becomes:
Assuming the outer force field is conservative, that is it can be
written as the negative gradient of some scalar valued function:
Then:
Therefore, the shape of the open surface of a fluid equals
the equipotential plane of the applied outer conservative
force field. Let the z-axis point downward. In this case the
field is gravity, so Φ = −ρfgz where g is the gravitational
acceleration, ρf is the mass density of the fluid. Taking the
pressure as zero at the surface, where z is zero, the
constant will be zero, so the pressure inside the fluid, when
it is subject to gravity, is
So pressure increases with depth below the surface of
a liquid, as z denotes the distance from the surface of
the liquid into it. Any object with a non-zero vertical
depth will have different pressures on its top and
bottom, with the pressure on the bottom being greater.
This difference in pressure causes the upward
buoyancy force.
The buoyancy force exerted on a body can now be
calculated easily, since the internal pressure of the fluid
is known. The force exerted on the body can be
calculated by integrating the stress tensor over the
surface of the body which is in contact with the fluid:
The surface integral can be transformed into a
volume integral with the help of the Gauss theorem:
where V is the measure of the volume in contact
with the fluid, that is the volume of the
submerged part of the body, since the fluid
doesn't exert force on the part of the body which
is outside of it.
The magnitude of buoyancy force may be
appreciated a bit more from the following
argument. Consider any object of arbitrary
shape and volume V surrounded by a liquid.
The force the liquid exerts on an object within
the liquid is equal to the weight of the liquid with
a volume equal to that of the object. This force
is applied in a direction opposite to gravitational
force, that is of magnitude:
where ρf is the density of the fluid, Vdisp is the
volume of the displaced body of liquid,
and g is the gravitational acceleration at the
location in question.
If this volume of liquid is replaced by a solid
body of exactly the same shape, the force
the liquid exerts on it must be exactly the
same as above. In other words, the
"buoyancy force" on a submerged body is
directed in the opposite direction to gravity
and is equal in magnitude to
The net force on the object must be zero
if it is to be a situation of fluid statics
such that Archimedes principle is
applicable, and is thus the sum of the
buoyancy force and the object's weight
If the buoyancy of an (unrestrained
and unpowered) object exceeds its
weight, it tends to rise. An object
whose weight exceeds its buoyancy
tends to sink. Calculation of the
upwards force on a submerged
object during its accelerating period
cannot be done by the Archimedes
principle alone; it is necessary to
 consider dynamics of an object
involving buoyancy. Once it fully
sinks to the floor of the fluid or rises
to the surface and settles,
Archimedes principle can be applied
alone. For a floating object, only the
submerged volume displaces water.
For a sunken object, the entire
volume displaces water, and there
will be an additional force of reaction
from the solid floor.
In order for Archimedes' principle to
be used alone, the object in question
must be in equilibrium (the sum of
the forces on the object must be
zero), therefore;
and therefore
showing that the depth to
which a floating object will
sink, and the volume of fluid it
will displace, is independent
of the gravitational
field regardless of geographic
location.
(Note: If the fluid in question is seawater, it will not have the same density (ρ) at every
location, since the density depends on temperature and salinity. For this reason, a ship
may display a Plimsoll line.)
It can be the case that
forces other than just
buoyancy and gravity
come into play. This is the
case if the object is
restrained or if the object
sinks to the solid floor. An
object which tends to float
requires
a tension restraint force T
in order to remain fully
submerged. An object
which tends to sink will
eventually have a normal
force of constraint N
exerted upon it by the
solid floor. The constraint
 force can be tension in a
spring scale measuring its
weight in the fluid, and is
how apparent weight is
defined.
If the object would
otherwise float, the
tension to restrain it fully
submerged is:
When a sinking object
settles on the solid
floor, it experiences
a normal force of:
Another possible
formula for
calculating
buoyancy of an
object is by finding
the apparent
weight of that
particular object in
the air (calculated
in Newtons), and
apparent weight of
that object in the
water (in
Newtons). To find
the force of
buoyancy acting
on the object when
in air, using this
particular
information, this
formula applies:
Buoyancy force = weight of object in empty space − weight of object immersed in
fluid
The final result
would be
measured in
Newtons.
Air's density is
very small
compared to
most solids and
liquids. For this
reason, the
weight of an
object in air is
approximately
the same as its
true weight in a
vacuum. The
buoyancy of air
is neglected for
most objects
during a
measurement
in air because
the error is
usually
insignificant
(typically less
than 0.1%
except for
objects of very
low average
density such as
a balloon or
light foam).
Simplified
model