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A penny will not float in water, mainly because it is denser than water. When the penny is placed in water, it displaces a volume of water equal to its own volume. Since the penny weighs more than the water it displaces, it will sink.
So, in order for the penny to float, you must find a liquid that is denser than solid copper -- or whatever metal or alloy a penny is made of. Mercury -- which is a liquid at room temperature -- is denser than copper. Hence, a penny will float in mercury.
Possibly surface tension may allow it to float.
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∙ 11y ago
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Why will a penny float in cooking oil?
it will float bc the penny is so light that it should float.
How do you make a penny float?
the way to make a penny float is the same way as making an egg float.All you have to do is add salt alot until you see the penny float and that's about it
Why does a boat float in salt water but not a penny?
penny's aren't tall enough!
Can you make a penny float?
Put it on a boat?
Why doesn't a penny float in the water?
because you're fat
Why will the penny float if you toss it in a wishing well full of a liquid denser than the coin?
no it wuld float on surface......
Does a new penny float in hcl?
when the penny is reacted with HCl, there must be somesort of area where the copper on the outside of the penny is removed so that the HCl can react with the zinc inside because HCl does not react with copper. Once the HCl reacts with the Zn inside, it will dissapear and therefore become less dense then the ZnCl2 that is formed which causes the penny to float
Why would a golf ball float on water and not a penny?
Only special bought golf balls float, and they are designed with air inside. That air obviously is lighter than water and will always rise, a penny however has no air and is stream lined to slide through the water. :D
Can a hockey puck float on water?
No, because a hockey puck has a higher density than water. In some cases, objects with higher density than water can still float on the water, if they are small enough to avoid breaking the surface tension of the water. This is also the case if the object's mass is distributed across a large enough area, so you could float a penny on water if you put it down flat across the water, but it would not float if you dropped it in on its side. You also could not float that penny if you melted it down and made it into a sphere, for example.
Can a penny float in salt water?
A penny as everyone I'm sure knows cannot float in regular water. As for salt water a penny should in theory not be able to becase the regular pennys bouancy is not great enough to support the weight of the penny regardless of the salt to water ratio. A penny is too dense to be able to float in salt water, regardless of the salinity of the solution.
How much would a penny weigh on the moon?
It is really hard to tell because there isn't any gravity in space so it would just float around.
Would a penny sink or float in water?
When an object of volume V is submerged in a liquid, the object experiences an upward force equal to the weight of the fluid it has displaced (the weight of a volume V of fluid). Oil is less dense than water (the oil floating on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico after the Deep Horizon catastrophe is an example of this), so a given volume of oil weighs less than the same volume of water. This means that a penny of volume V submerged in oil feels the weight of gravity pushing it down, and the weight of a volume V of oil pushing it up. The upward weight pushing the penny up is less in oil than in water, so the penny will sink faster in water, theoretically.
