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Buoyancy A solid body submerged in a liquid or a gas weighs less than when weighed in free space. This is because of the upward force, called buoyant force, which any fluid exerts on a body submerged in it. An object will float if this upward force of the fluid is greater than the weight of the object. Objects denser than the fluid, even though they sink readily, appear to lose a part of their weight when submerged. A person can lift a larger weight under water than he or she can possibly lift in the air. The following experiment is illustrated in Figure 3-38. The overflow can is filled to the spout with water. The heavy metal cube is first weighed in still air and weighs 10 lb. It is then weighed while completely submerged in the water and it weighs 3 lb. The difference between the two weights is the buoyant force of the water. As the cube is lowered into the overflow can, the water is caught in the catch bucket. The volume of water which overflows equals the volume of the cube. (The volume of irregular shaped objects can be measured by this method.) If this experiment is performed carefully, the weight of the water displaced by the metal cube
exactly equals the buoyant force of the water, which the scale shows to be 7 lb. Archimedes (287–212 B.C.) performed similar experiments. As a result, he discovered that the buoyant force which a fluid exerts upon a submerged body is equal to the weight of the fluid the body displaces. This statement is referred to as Archimedes’ principle. This principle applies to all fluids, gases as well as liquids. Just as water exerts a buoyant force on submerged objects, air exerts a buoyant force on objects submerged in it. The amount of buoyant force available to an object can be calculated by using the following formula: Buoyant Force = Volume of Object × Density of Fluid Displaced If the buoyant force is more than the object weighs, the object will float. If the buoyant force is less than the object weighs, the object will sink. For the object that sinks, its measurable weight will be less by the weight of the displaced fluid. Example: A 10-ft3object weighing 700 lb is placed in pure water. Will the object float? If the object sinks, what is its measurable weight in the submerged condition? If the object floats, how many cubic feet of its volume is below the water line? Buoyant Force = Volume of Object × Density of Fluid Displaced Because the buoyant force is less than the object weighs, the object will sink. The difference between the buoyant force and the object’s weight will be its measurable weight, or 76 lb. Two good examples of buoyancy are a helium filled airship and a seaplane on floats. An airship is able to float in the atmosphere and a seaplane is able to float on water. That means both have more buoyant force than weight. Figure 3-39 is a DeHavilland Twin Otter seaplane, with a gross takeoff weight of 12,500 lb. At a minimum, the floats on this airplane must be large enough to displace a weight in water equal to the airplane’s weight. According to Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 23, the floats must be 80 percent larger than the minimum needed to support the airplane. For this airplane, the necessary size of the floats would be calculated as follows:
Divide the airplane weight by the density of water. By looking at the Twin Otter in Figure 3-39, it is obvious that much of the volume of the floats is out of the water. This is accomplished by making sure the floats have at least 80 percent more volume than the minimum necessary. Some of the large Goodyear airships have a volume of 230,000 ft3. Since the fluid they are submerged in is air, to find the buoyant force of the airship, the volume of the airship is multiplied by the density of air (.07651 lb/ft3). For this Goodyear airship, the buoyant force is 17,597 lb. Figure 3-40 shows an inside view of the Goodyear airship.
The ballonets, items 2 and 4 in the picture, are air chambers within the airship. Through the air scoop, item 9, air can be pumped into the ballonets or evacuated from the ballonets in order to control the weight of the airship. Controlling the weight of the airship controls how much positive or negative lift it has. Although the airship is classified as a lighter-than-air aircraft, it is in fact flown in a condition slightly heavier than air. |
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