A boat is sitting in the middle of the lake. What happens to the water level in the lake when a heavy anchor is thrown overboard? Does the water level rise, lower, or stay the same.
it falls
the anchor displaces its volume in water when it sinks, but it displaced its weight when it was in the boat.
When a heavy anchor is thrown overboard from a boat sitting in the middle of a lake, the water level in the lake will stay the same. This occurs due to a principle known as Archimedes' principle, which states that an object submerged in a fluid (such as water) will displace an amount of fluid equal to its own weight.
In this scenario, the anchor would displace an amount of water equivalent to its weight as it sinks into the lake. As a result, the water level in the lake remains unchanged because the volume of water displaced by the anchor is replaced by the anchor itself.
To understand this concept more thoroughly, you can perform a simple experiment. Start by filling a basin or sink with water. Take an object with a known weight, such as a small plastic toy, and carefully place it in the water, making a note of the water level. Observe how the water level rises only slightly to accommodate the submerged toy's weight.
By conducting this experiment or understanding Archimedes' principle, you can explain why the water level in the lake remains the same when a heavy anchor is thrown overboard.