Buoyancy: How Much Weight Can A Boat Float

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The project question that is being discussed is how much weight (in pennies) can a tin foil boat float, this experiment is quite similar as to how a cruise ship can hold an immense amount of weight while still being able to sail above sea level. This includes determining the amount of density (density = mass/volume) or the compactness of a certain substance that a boat has which is crucial. Mass is the amount of matter that is found in an object and volume is the amount of space that something will take up, the more mass an object contains, the more dense it will be. Buoyancy will also play a role in the experiment, buoyancy is the ability of an object to float when it is placed in water, which is related to density. The concepts in this experiment will resolve whether a boat will sink or float. The purpose of this experiment is to decide how the volume of a boat affects how much weight it can support.…show more content…
The mass of a penny was found to be 3.1 grams before the year of 1982, though a penny after that year weighed in at 2.5 grams. The weight is different depending on what year the coin was made, which means the number of pennies the boat can carry before sinking will have a different weight compared to other boats and will lead to more of a different outcome. An object that is more dense that the fluid which is immersed, sinks, but if the density of an object is equal to the density of the fluid that it is placed in, the object neither rises nor sinks. Though, if its density is less than the fluid, the object will stay afloat. With a steel-hulled ship, it is the shape of the ship’s hull that matters, this is how the weight of the cargo changes the mass/volume of the
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