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
It’s 10-15% less dense. That means 10-15% of it is going to be above water.
And object that floats will displace a volume of water that has weight equal to itself. Then the remaining volume of said object will be above the water.
Objects that are less dense that water. Are going to have a different percentage of their volume of above the water based on their density. That’s why say…a balloon filled with air will be almost completely above water. Air has a very low density.
Edit: oh, and they end up being vertical because that’s more stable. If it was horizontal and one side was even slightly heavier eventually that side would sink in and “flip” the object into a vertical position. Even if it were horizontal though it would still only have 10-15% of its volume above water, of course.
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