. The Americana : a universal reference library, comprising the arts and sciences, literature, history, biography, geography, commerce, etc. of the world. upborneby the pressure on every side. These pressuresnow act on the solid and whether or not thesolid floats under their influence, as much ofthe weight of the solid as corresponds to thispressure is supported by the surrounding considerations applied to the phenome-non of floating bodies illustrate the principlejust explained; and the experiments that aremade for the purpose of determining the spe-cific gravity of bodies heavier
. The Americana : a universal reference library, comprising the arts and sciences, literature, history, biography, geography, commerce, etc. of the world. upborneby the pressure on every side. These pressuresnow act on the solid and whether or not thesolid floats under their influence, as much ofthe weight of the solid as corresponds to thispressure is supported by the surrounding considerations applied to the phenome-non of floating bodies illustrate the principlejust explained; and the experiments that aremade for the purpose of determining the spe-cific gravity of bodies heavier than water alsodepend on that principle. See Specific Grav-ity. If a body be immersed in water or otherfluid, the resultant of the fluid pressures meetsthe surface at a point called the centre of pres-sure, which will coincide with the centre ofgravity of the body if the body be horizontal,but will pass below it if the plane of the body isinclined to the fluids surface. The conditions of floatage and of stabilityof a body floating in a liquid are of great im-portance. A floating body displaces a certainquantity of the liquid, and the weight of the. Fig. 3. solid body is equal to the weight of the liquidthat is displaced by it. To calculate how muchof the body is submerged, and how much floatsabove the liquid, it is only necessary to considerwhat volume of the liquid would be equal inweight to the weight of the floating body. Forexample, the specific gravity of ice is about ninetenths of that of ordinary sea-water. Hence9 cubic feet of sea water weigh as muchas 10 cubic feet of ice. Thus in an icebergnine tenths of the ice is under water, and onetenth is above the surface. In ships and otherfloating bodies the stability depends on the formof the body. A sphere of wood floating inwater is indifferent as to position. The slight-est force is sufficient to overturn it from any
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