Services to Schools

Services to SchoolsExplore this section

Floating and Sinking

It’s density that allows oil, waka, ships and icebergs to float on water whereas rocks and anchors sink. Included are resources on salinity, swimming, lifejackets, submarines, the Archimedes principle and buoyancy experiments. SCIS no. 1867886

Filter by media type

Filter by keyword

Display as

All items

Floating fern

Two species of small, floating fern are found in New Zealand: the native Azolla filiculoides, pictured here, and a tropical introduction, A. pinnata. They form spreading, red-green mats on the surf...

Icebergs are thick masses of ice floating in the ocean. They form when large chunks of ice break off a glacier or an ice shelf and float free in the sea. This is called calving. Many new icebergs w...

Physical World – Floating and sinking

Below are links to Science Learning Hub resources for primary teachers related to floating and sinking in the Physical World strand of the New Zealand Curriculum.

A FLOATING HOTEL. (Clutha Leader 17-4-1908)

A FLOATING HOTEL. (Clutha Leader 17-4-1908)

Argo floats rise and sink

Control over buoyancy to make an Argo float rise or sink.

Message in a bottle

Bottle with a message in it found after 108 years.

How to tell the age of an egg.

A sinking ship

Reasons why a sinking ship reaches the seabed.

Submarine fibre optics

Submarine fibre optics

Fibre optic cables are sunk into the seabed.

First British submarine

First British submarine

Submarines can float and sink.

Sinkholes

What causes sinkholes?

Life jacket

A life jacket padded with fluff from the inside of the seeds of the kapok tree.

Swimmers and swimming

Early 1893 newspaper article on surfing.

Water density and why ice floats on water.

Blocks of pumice

Blocks of pumice

Pumice is a volcanic rock so light that it floats, and large blocks can be easily lifted. It occurs mainly in the central North Island, but because it floats it can be found around the New Zealand ...

Mōkihi

A mōkihi is a Māori raft made from raupo and flax.

Sinking the Wellington

Sinking the Wellington

In 2005, the former Royal New Zealand Navy frigate Wellington was sunk off Wellington’s south coast.

Wahine sinks

A ship is very heavy but its hollow shape helps it to stay afloat. In addition, there are many open spaces on a ship, which are filled with air. This air on the ship is less dense than water. This ...

Floating in the Dead Sea

Floating in the Dead Sea

Here are 36 New Zealand Survey Battery members floating in the Dead Sea.

Anchor

Anchors are very heavy objects that are used to keep or moor a ship to the bottom of the sea to stop it from drifting away. One end of the anchor has a chain, which is attached to the ship. Anchors...

Floating dock

In this photograph, Wellington’s Jubilee floating dock is towed to Aotea Quay by the tugboats Kupe, Toia and Ngahue.

Floating mines

This article is from just after World War I. At that time, some parts of the world's oceans still had mines floating in them. These floating mines were explosive devices designed to damage or destr...

Giant iceberg

Passengers on board the liner Octavia in 1911 were lucky to see a 500-foot high giant iceberg on their voyage to Liverpool via the South Atlantic Ocean.

Computer generated imagery shows how the Titanic sank to the bottom of the sea.

Lesson plan to test floating and sinking, Archimedes principle, density and buoyancy.

Archimedes’ Principle

Calculating the weight of a horse using Archimedes principle.

Contrasting student and scientific views

Student view and scientific view of why things float or sink.

All about sinking and floating

Simple facts and experiments about sinking and floating.

How do boats float?

Why and how do boats float?

Sesame Street on theories about floating and sinking.

Does it sink? Does it float?

A poem on buoyancy.

Experiment on oil spills and why they are bad for our environment.

Why do things float?

Buoyancy depends on weight and pressure.

Buoyancy and density

Types of buoyancy, density, fluids and Archimedes principle.

Bill Hamilton’s jet-boat invention changed river and shallow water navigation.

The Plimsoll line or the international load line for cargo ships.

How does a lava lamp work?

Clouds floating

A weather man explains how clouds float.

How submarines dive and surface to float on the ocean.

Buoyancy makes hot-air balloons and blimps fly.

Why do icebergs float?

The reason why life jackets help save you from drowning.

Why does ice float?

What makes ice float instead of sinking?

Balloon Buoyancy

What makes a balloon float?

Wahine disaster

The Wellington ferry Wahineran aground and sank at the entrance to Wellington Harbour in 1968.

Why do heavy rain clouds float in the air?

Temperature, salinity and water density

An activity to demonstrate how temperature and salinity can determine floating or sinking.

Floating and sinking

This page from Many Answers will guide you to reviewed websites and databases on Floating and sinking.

Why do astronauts float in space?

Is there really no gravity in space?

Can you guess what sinks and what floats?

Learn how to build your own boat and see displacement in action.

What is buoyant force?

What is buoyancy and how to calculate it.

Hovercraft - ultimate amphibious machines

This machine breaks all the rules, it can penetrate some of the toughest terrains on earth, over land, over water, from the polar ice, to the rapids of the Amazon.

Floating coconut

Ocean currents can carry living organisms, such as this germinating coconut seed, to keys and coral islands.

In Taipei you can float on giant water lilies

Visitors to Shuangxi Park in Taipei get one chance each year to get their picture taken on giant water lilies.

What is an argo float?

Argo Floats are robots that float at different depths in the sea collecting information.

Floating and Sinking

Facts, images and a quiz investigating floating and sinking.

Make a paperclip float

Science Bob investigates water surface tension in this paper clip experiment.

Sugar rainbow, an easy density experiment

Check out this Sugar Rainbow experiment, also known as the rainbow in a jar, an easy way to learn about density.

Top results for Floating and Sinking from AnyQuestions

Floating and sinking

Floating and sinking

Floating and sinking are about weight and the force or upthrust of water. When an object is put into water the force...

Senior Primary

See all 1 related entries on AnyQuestions