Eli5 Does pressurizing gas effect the buoyancy because it makes it denser?
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Yes, this becomes apparent with scuba tanks
An 80 cubic foot aluminum tank when full and submerged in salt water “weighs” 1.4 pounds and will sink. If you empty the pressurized gas from it now the tank has an actual empty mass of just 37.6 pounds and has 4.4 pounds of upwards buoyancy.
As you use up the pressurized air within the scuba tank, the mass of the tank decreases but the volume of water it displaces remains the same so it transitions from wanting to sink slowly to wanting to float upwards a bit quicker
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