Floating steel bowl
An empty steel bowl floats when it is placed gently on the surface of water. This suggests that
Note:
The force applied by a liquid on an object immersed/floating on it is called the
buoyant force
, and is equal to the weight of the liquid displaced.
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1 solution
Relevant wiki: Fluid Mechanics
For the steel bowl to remain in equilibrium, the net force acting on it must be zero. There are two forces acting on the bowl.
1) Gravitational force in the downwards direction
2) The force due to the water called the Buoyant force
For the equilibrium, we can say,
Buoyant force = Weight of the bowl
It is also mentioned in the question the Buoyant force equals the weight of the water displaced. Hence, we can conclude that the weight of the bowl equals the weight of the water displaced.
Further, we may note that the density of steel is much greater than the water. However, the bowl still does not sink in the water because it is hollow. If we fill the bowl even with the water then the bowl will sink. It can also be seen that if the bowl is pushed into the water and then released, the bowl will remain sink and will not come up to float.