Curated OER
Sink or Float
Second graders explore floating and sinking and make predictions about whether certain objects are likely to sink or float. They read the story Who Sank the Boat? by Pamela Allen. Pupils loacate rhyming words and discuss the events of...
Curated OER
Density Challenge
Students calculate the densities of several liquids that appear similar. In this physical science lesson, students go beyond understanding the way liquids of different densities behave to researching how this knowledge applies in real...
Curated OER
Floating Soap
Students use the Scientific Method steps to complete an experiment on various brands of soap to determine their floating capabilities. In this scientific method lesson, students write a hypothesis about the ability of various soap bars...
Curated OER
Immiscible Liquids and Density
Students will make a lava lamp. In this density instructional activity, students will combine water and oil and make observations, then add salt to the oil and observe the oil sink, then float again when the salt dissolves in the water.
OpenStax
Open Stax: Physics: Archimedes' Principle
From a chapter on Fluid Statics in a Physics textbook. This section of the chapter provides a detailed discussion of Archimedes' principle, buoyant force, floating and sinking, and the role of density. Includes questions, problems and...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Floating and Sinking: Hot Air Balloons
Why do hot air balloons float? This resource from the NOVA Web site offers a series of interactive activities that illustrates the physics of hot air balloons.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Mn Step: Sinking Water: Glaciers, Ocean Currents and Weather Patterns
A instructional activity where students learn how warm water is less dense than cold water, and what this means for global climate change as ice from the polar regions melts. Students will do experiments in buoyancy and water density...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Mn Step: Sink or Float: All Liquids Do Not Have the Same Density
An experiment in density. After a review of floating and sinking of different materials, students test four bottles, all holding four ounces of water, to see if they will float or sink. They each contain a different density of sugar...