7.4 ARCHIMEDES' PRINCIPLE
 
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·
 System description
·
 Introduction
·
 Model
·
 View
   
 
   
Fig. 7.3: View of the virtual-lab.
    
 
System description
 

This virtual-lab tries to illustrate the Archimedes' principle:
the buoyant force on a submerged object is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced.
 
The object is a cube with side equal to . In equilibrium, the weight of the submerged object () is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced ():
where is the object's mass, is the gravitational acceleration, is the submerged height of the cube and is the fluid density.
 
Assuming that the object is in equilibrium, its submerged height can be calculated as follows:
 
The virtual-lab allows the user to interactively change the object’s mass. However, the mass is not allowed to become bigger than:
If the mass is bigger, then the object sinks.
 
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Introduction
 
The Introduction panel of the virtual-lab is shown in Fig. 7.23.
 
Fig. 7.23: Introduction.
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Model
 
The model equation and the array describing the object position are evaluated in the Constraints panel (see Fig 7.24). Look at the virtual-lab code for further details.
 
Fig. 7.24: Constraints panel.
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View
 
The tree of elements is shown in Fig. 7.25. Open the virtual-lab and look at the properties of the tree elements.
 
Fig. 7.25: Tree of elements.
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