During this Thanksgiving weekend, I was relaxing and floating on my back in a swimming pool. But, physics soon invaded my thoughts and I started thinking about physics and Archimedes' principle. According to Archimedes' principle, the buoyant force keeping me afloat was equal to the weight of the water I displaced. I realized that I was able to float because the density of the pool water was greater than my density (m/v). The upward buoyant force was enough to counter the downward force of my weight. (Ok, so sorry I don't have any picture for this part.)
This is a picture of a cruise ship on the other side of Glacier Bay (Alaska) when I went on a cruise this past summer. Although the ship seems large and heavy, it floats because its density is less than the density of the water it is sitting in. All of these cruise ships could not possibly exist without buoyant forces!
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