Question

Noah drops a rock with a density of 1.73 g/cm3 into a pond. Will the rock float or sink?

Answer 1

the rock will sink because it is more dense than water.

Answer 2

It will sink

Step-by-step explanation:

An object in the water can float only if its density is lower than the density of the water.

In fact, for an object completely immersed in water, there are two forces acting on it:

- Its weight,
`W=mg=\rho_o V g`, downward, where
`\rho_o` is the density of the object, V its volume and g the gravitational acceleration

- The buoyant force,
`B=\rho_w V g`, upwards, there
`\rho_w` is the density of the water

We see that when the density of an object is larger than the density of the water,
`\rho_o > \rho_w`, the weight is greater than the buoyant force,
`W>B`, so the object sinks.

In this case, the rock has a density of 1.73 g/cm3, while water has a density of 1.0 g/cm^3, so the rock will sink.