Why water floats on oil?

Answer 1

Because oil is less denser than water water is very denser so it goes down, oil is less denser so it goes up there's more information but I just know about this one sorry I don't know the other answers

{Answer Improved}

I am in chemistry right now this semester and this question popped up in one of our "In-Class Discussion Questions." ((even though we had to do these questions for homework)) But anyway, yes. The reason oil floats on water is because it is less dense than the water. Reason being, is the forces which are being contrasted between these two substances. One force, I am pretty sure all of us have heard of, is the Gravitational Force, and the other is called Buoyancy Force. The gravitational force is the force which pulls an object closer and closer to the ground, (or in this case, the two substances of course) and buoyancy force is the force which causes objects (or the oil in this case) to float on water. Where the oil is less dense than the water, the upward force on the oil is greater than that of the downward force of gravity on the oil. The dissimilarity of these forces is what causes the oil to rise above the water. So yes, it is because of the oil being less dense, but the cause of it being less dense is because of the forces of gravity and buoyancy.

Not only that, but on top of these forces there is also a statement used in chemistry about substances: like dissolves like, which means that a substance tends to dissolve in another substance if the molecules of the two substances have similar electric dipoles. If you don't understand what an electric dipole is, I think of it as a battery basically a magnet. An electric dipole has a positive (+) charged end and a negative (-) charged end. The magnitude of the (+) end can sometimes be greater than that of the (-) end, and the (-) end cans sometimes be greater than that of the (+) end. The difference of the magnitudes between the two charges and the distance depends on the strength of the dipole. Therefore dipoles with similar strengths dissolve more precipitously than dipoles with different strengths.

I'm sure there is more to it then just this information