Did you know that whether something floats is not about how much it weighs. We can investigate this using oranges.
What you need:
- 2 oranges
- large bowl of water
What to do:
- Put one orange into the water. Does it float or sink?
- Remove the peel on the second orange. Add it to the water. Does it float or sink? Is it different to the fruit in the peel?
What happens:
When oranges are in their peel, they float. Once removed from the peel, they sink – this might seem odd because they weigh less once the peel is removed. Their peels have hundreds of tiny holes. These holes are fully of air, so the peel makes the orange bigger, but not that much heavier. Removing the peel makes the entire orange more dense, because it does not have those pockets of air anymore, so it sinks.
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