Chip-Ship Challenge
Question: How many pennies can float inside a potato chip (Chip Ship) bag before it would start to sink?
How can objects that are heavy, like pennies, float?
Hypothesis: 50 or more
Yes, pennies can be buoyant.
Procedure:
3. Step 3: Remove the bag and empty it. Repeat step 1 only this time, place the chip lid flat on top of the pennies so it holds the bag open. Gently lower the bag into the water. What happened to the bag? It floated! 4. Step 4: Leaving the bag in the water, add more pennies on top of the lid. See how much cargo you can load into you Chip Ship before it sinks. Special Needs: water |
|
The Science behind it:
The chip ship, like all cargo vessels, is designed to carry as much weight as possible. The more water the hull of the ship displaces, the more boyant the vessel. The more boyant the vessel, the more cargo it can carry.
Positioning a lid on top of pennies broadens the hull of the chip ship, which increases the volume inside the vessel and the amount of water displaced outside.
Positioning a lid on top of pennies broadens the hull of the chip ship, which increases the volume inside the vessel and the amount of water displaced outside.
Conclusions:
What keeps a boat from sinking? Boyancy
Boyancy, the upward force that liquids and gases exert on objects.