I have a container that itself floats on water. The container has two compartments. The first contains pure Hydrogen at sea level pressure. The other is a vacuum… no air at all. Why would one side float while the other sinks? I’ve got it in my head that the vacuum side is neutral when it comes to weight, or that Hydrogen is somehow lighter.
Would it be different with 25% normal air in each side?
In: Chemistry
Floating is all to do with weight compared with volume of water. If an object can displace a volume of water that weighs more than the object does, before the water level engulfs it, then it will float. For simple solid objects this is as simple as them being less dense than the water.
In your example if the container floats when filled with air (which is what I assume you mean when you say
> the container itself floats on water
), then it should float when filled with hydrogen, or when evacuated; since in both of these cases it would weigh less than when filled with air.
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