• Question: what force is happening when you jump into water and bob back up?

    Asked by louis to Matt on 13 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Matt Dunn

      Matt Dunn answered on 13 Jun 2016:

      Hi louis,

      Basically whenever you exert a force on something, it pushes back. You are pushing down on the ground, but it is pushing back at you with an exactly equal force, this is why you don’t fall into the ground.

      With water the same thing happens, but as water is a liquid the rules are a bit different. If you jump into the water, you move a load of water which has the same weight as you, and then the water pushes back at you, which is when you bob back up. If you have enough weight to overcome the buoyancy, you will keep sinking (which is why divers attach weights to themselves)

Comments