About This Lesson
Archimedes' Principle states that the buoyant force of an object is equal to the mass of the fluid it displaces. In this laboratory experiment, students will investigate that principle by attaching objects to the string of a helium balloon until it is perfectly suspended in the center of the room, and then taking measurements in order to calculate the buoyant force.
This activity may be also be done on March 14th to celebrate pi day.
Note: Allow students to figure out that the use of the formula for a sphere will not yield a perfect answer, as a balloon is not a perfect sphere.
