If ice is less dense than water, how come icebergs are mostly submerged rather than only half?

Question

For example, most “full view” iceberg pictures I’ve seen, the iceberg has been vertically oriented – if ice is less dense than water, wouldn’t it at least be horizontal, with more than 10-15% of the mass visible above water?

In: Physics

Answer 1

It’s a matter of mow much less dense than water ice is. Basically, something less dense will float until enough material is out of the water that the submerged volume and total weight reach a matching density point with the water.

For example, let’s say you’ve got a cube of styrofoam that’s half the density of water. When you put it in water, half of the volume will submerge, because the total weight/half the volume = the density of water.

Ice is only about 9% less dense than water, which by the rule above means that only about 9% of the volume will be above the water line.