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As the Omega Family sped away from the beach on the
catamaran, Huxley told Ty and Karlie about all the different
types of boats they had built that day and how each boat
The group followed the conveyor belt into another room
was optimized, or made useful, for a specific function.
where they heard a buzzing sound.
Everyone was relieved that it didn't take too long to catch up
It was too late. Remus was covered in colorful
to Randy. When they finally found him, to their surprise, he
candy sprinkles.
was splashing and playing with some other fish.
"He doesn't look like he's malfunctioning to me," observed
Karlie.
"Yeah," agreed Ty. "He looks really happy."
The family coaxed Randy on board to give him a systems
checkup and make sure he was okay.
BONUS EXPERIMENT 1: WHAT FLOATS?
Test different objects to see whether they are able to float in water. You can
test a rock, cork, nail, rubber band, feather, piece of yarn, plastic building
block, and more.
Cork
Rock
Bowl of water
When an object sinks in water, it simply presses the water to its sides. It
displaces the water. The amount of water an object displaces depends on its
size and shape, not its weight. An object will sink if the amount of water that it
has displaced (forced aside) weighs less than the object itself. If the displaced
water weighs more than the object, then the water supports the object from
underneath by pushing up on it, and that's how the object floats.
BONUS EXPERIMENT 2: HOW DO BOATS FLOAT?
Make different shapes with equal amounts of modeling clay, including ball
and boat shapes. Test each shape to see if it floats in a bowl of water.
1
2
Make a
ball.
Ball
Boat
Disk
The clay boat and the clay ball weigh the same, but the boat
displaces more water than the ball. Consequently, more water
molecules press against the bottom of the boat, and it floats.
Boat Engineer
Nail
3
Make a
Float them in water.
boat.
Slab
Ring
31
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