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Tin Foil Boat

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Cut tin foil into 2 squares that are the same size. Wrap the tinfoil in a ball around the penny. Does it sink? Lay the penny on a flat piece of tin foil. Does it sink? Use the tinfoil to make a boat. Does it sink? See how many pennies you can add before it sinks.
No. People: 1+
Contributed By: simplysmart
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Age Group:

  • Early Elementary, Middle School, Preschool, Upper Elementary
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Required Materials

Steps & Setup Instructions

Objective: Determine which shape of tin foil allows the penny to float.
  • Cut two, small flat sheets of aluminum foil exactly the same size. Put a penny in the middle of one and wrap it into a very tight ball with no air space. Take a penny and lay it on top of the other piece of foil. Both pennies and both pieces of foil weigh the same amount / have the same mass.
  • Have child drop the foil ball into a bowl of water. What happens? It sinks.
  • Have child lay the flat piece of foil on the water. What happens? Does it float?
  • Take the flat foil out, bend up the edges and shape it into a boat, making sure the no water can leak in. Put the penny back in. It floats. Add more pennies, one at a time. See how many you can put in without sinking the foil boat.

What's Happening?

The amount of water pushed aside or “displaced” by an object equals the amount of force that the water pushes upward on the object. That means that objects that are heavy for their size sink; objects that are light for their size float. We say that objects that are heavy for their size are “dense”.   The ball of foil and the penny have the same weight as the flat foil and penny. However, the ball of foil takes up a smaller amount of space—it is heavy for its size. Gravity pulls the dense foil ball down.   The flat foil takes up a lot of space (or surface area) on the water. It pushes aside (or displaces) a lot of water—it is light for its size. The water pushes up on the foil with an equal amount of force—enough to keep the foil (even with pennies on it) from sinking.   A big boat floats while a car sinks. Both are heavy objects, but the boat is designed in such a way that it pushes or displaces a lot of water—enough that the force of the water pushing up on the boat keeps it from sinking.
Date added: 11/30/-0001
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