Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Density and Archimedes' Principle01:05

Density and Archimedes' Principle

When a lump of clay is dropped into water, it sinks. But if the same lump of clay is molded into the shape of a boat, it starts to float. Because of its shape, the clay boat displaces more water than the lump and experiences a greater buoyant force, even though its mass is the same. The same holds true for steel ships. The average density of an object majorly determines if the object will float. If an object's average density is less than that of the surrounding fluid, it will float. The reason...
Buoyancy01:12

Buoyancy

When an object is placed in a fluid, it either floats or sinks. All objects in a fluid experience a buoyant force. For example, a metal ball sinks, while a rubber ball floats. Similarly, a submarine can sink and float by adjusting its buoyancy.  The concept of buoyancy raises several interesting questions. For instance, where does this buoyant force come from? How much buoyant force is required to make an object sink or float? Do objects that sink get any support at all from the fluid? 
To get...
Buoyancy and Stability for Submerged and Floating Bodies01:11

Buoyancy and Stability for Submerged and Floating Bodies

In fluid mechanics, buoyancy and stability are key concepts for understanding the behavior of submerged and floating bodies. When a stationary body is fully or partially submerged in a fluid, the fluid exerts a force on the body known as the buoyant force. This force acts vertically upward through a point called the center of buoyancy, which is the center of the displaced fluid volume. According to Archimedes' principle, the magnitude of the buoyant force is equal to the weight of the fluid...
Archimedes' Principle01:13

Archimedes' Principle

Archimedes' principle states that an upward buoyant force exerted on a body that is immersed partially or entirely in a fluid is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by it. To understand how much buoyant force is needed to make an object float, let us think about what happens when a submerged object is removed from a fluid. If the object were not in the fluid, the space occupied by the object would be filled by the fluid having a weight wfl. This weight is supported by the surrounding...
Surface Tension of Fluid01:22

Surface Tension of Fluid

Surface tension is a fundamental property of fluids, occurring at the boundary between a liquid and a gas or between two immiscible liquids. This phenomenon arises from the cohesive forces between molecules at the fluid's surface, creating an effect similar to a stretched elastic membrane. Inside each fluid, molecules are equally attracted in all directions by neighboring molecules, but surface molecules experience a net inward force, resulting in surface tension.
Surface tension varies with...
Design Example: Application of Archimedes' Principle01:11

Design Example: Application of Archimedes' Principle

Archimedes' principle is fundamental in analyzing the buoyant force and stability of floating bodies. In this example, a wooden block with a rectangular section floats in seawater. Based on the block's dimensions, its specific gravity and the specific weight of seawater are used to find the volume of water displaced and the center of buoyancy.
The volume of seawater displaced by the block is determined by first calculating the block's weight. This is done by multiplying the block's volume by...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

General two-parameter model of alpha-relaxation in glasses.

Physical review. E·2026
Same author

Econophysics and the Landauer Principle: A Redefinition of Economic Temperature.

Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)·2026
Same author

Impact of Cold Radiofrequency Air Plasma Treatment on the Bulk Properties of Polypropylene Films.

Materials (Basel, Switzerland)·2026
Same author

Extreme Values and Convergence of the Voronoi Entropy for 2D Random Point Processes and for Long-Range Order.

Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)·2026
Same author

Negative Mass in the Systems Driven by Entropic Forces.

Materials (Basel, Switzerland)·2025
Same author

Landauer Principle and Einstein Synchronization of Clocks: Ramsey Approach.

Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)·2025

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 9, 2026

Impacts of Free-falling Spheres on a Deep Liquid Pool with Altered Fluid and Impactor Surface Conditions
08:49

Impacts of Free-falling Spheres on a Deep Liquid Pool with Altered Fluid and Impactor Surface Conditions

Published on: February 17, 2019

Submerged (under-liquid) floating of light objects.

Edward Bormashenko1, Roman Pogreb, Roman Grynyov

  • 1Physics Faculty, Ariel University, Ariel, POB 3, 40700 Israel. edward@ariel.ac.il

Langmuir : the ACS Journal of Surfaces and Colloids
|August 3, 2013
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Objects lighter than water can surprisingly float submerged. Hydrophilized polymer plates, sized near capillary length, defied buoyancy in water and glycerol, demonstrating a novel floating phenomenon.

More Related Videos

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
06:42

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability

Published on: March 3, 2017

A Low-Cost Method of Measuring the In Situ Primary Productivity of Periphyton Communities of Lentic Waters
06:02

A Low-Cost Method of Measuring the In Situ Primary Productivity of Periphyton Communities of Lentic Waters

Published on: December 16, 2022

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 9, 2026

Impacts of Free-falling Spheres on a Deep Liquid Pool with Altered Fluid and Impactor Surface Conditions
08:49

Impacts of Free-falling Spheres on a Deep Liquid Pool with Altered Fluid and Impactor Surface Conditions

Published on: February 17, 2019

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
06:42

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability

Published on: March 3, 2017

A Low-Cost Method of Measuring the In Situ Primary Productivity of Periphyton Communities of Lentic Waters
06:02

A Low-Cost Method of Measuring the In Situ Primary Productivity of Periphyton Communities of Lentic Waters

Published on: December 16, 2022

Area of Science:

  • Physics
  • Materials Science
  • Surface Science

Background:

  • Objects typically float if their density is less than the supporting fluid.
  • Surface tension and wetting phenomena play crucial roles in fluid-object interactions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the counterintuitive submerged floating of objects lighter than the supporting liquid.
  • To explore the behavior of hydrophilized polymer plates in water and glycerol under an "under-liquid" regime.

Main Methods:

  • Utilizing polymer plates with dimensions comparable to the capillary length.
  • Applying cold air plasma treatment to hydrophilize the polymer surfaces.
  • Immersing treated plates in water and glycerol to observe floating behavior.
  • Measuring the profiles of liquid surfaces deformed by the polymer plates.

Main Results:

  • Observed submerged floating of polymer plates that are lighter than the supporting liquids (water, glycerol).
  • Confirmed the "under-liquid" floating regime where plates are fully covered by the liquid.
  • Measured and analyzed the liquid surface profiles, revealing significant curvature induced by the plates.

Conclusions:

  • A novel phenomenon of submerged floating for hydrophilized polymer plates lighter than the liquid has been demonstrated.
  • The observed phenomenon can be explained by a proposed theoretical model accounting for surface interactions.
  • The study extends to the floating behavior of Janus plates, indicating further complexity and potential applications.