What will happen if a substance with a mass density greater than water is placed into a container of water?

Answer 1

Is this a trick question? Surely it would sink to the bottom . The buoyant force which lets some things float is equal to the weight of the water displaced. A substance which has greater density than water would displace water which has less than weight it has and

the buoyant force would not be sufficient to support it and it would sink to the bottom.
You have to remember that density is how tightly particles are packed together in a piece of matter. Density also contributes to weight. Think of it like this: which falls faster, a sheet of paper or a crumpled paper ball? The paper ball. So, the higher the density, the higher the weight. In the paper, the weight is spread out. In the ball, it is all concentrated on a certain point. So, if the object has a greater density than the water that it is dropped in, it will sink.
An object denser than water will sink when placed in water. As long as there are no other forces besides gravity acting upon it.
It proceeds straight to Davy Jones' locker if the density is significantly greater than water. However if the objects density is only very splightly more dense it will fall through the water until the increasing water pressure compresses the water slightly and balances the weight of the solid. At that point the object will have a neutral buoyancy and stop falling. To calculate this depth you will need the bulk modulus of the liquid. You can find the bulk modulus of various liquids in references such as Kaye and Laby, Tables of Physical and Chemical Constants [Longmans].

As an example at at a depth equivalent the bottom of the Marianas Trench (about 10,000 m) water has a pressure of 1000 atmospheres and a corresponding density of water is about 1.3 g/cm3

Answer 2

Lower density materials float in higher density fluids, those with higher densities sink. There are a few caveats:

• This does not occur if two miscible fluids are miscible (dissolve in each other). In that case the one fluid mixes with the other (e.g. alcohol and water)
  
• Soluble material that dissolves in water may float or sink as it dissolves then it will mix into the water.
  
• Reactive materials will react until it combines chemically with the water. Some reactive materials such as sodium are heavier than water but float while reacting because the average density of the sodium and the gas it produces is less than water.
  
• Liquids that are only less or more dense than water because of their temperature and are not miscible with water, will float or sink until their density is greater or less than water the they will sink in response to their relation to the density of the water..

Answer 3

The substance will sink to the bottom of the container due to its higher density compared to water. The buoyant force acting on the substance will not be enough to keep it afloat.

Answer 4

It will sink

Answer 5

the object will float

Answer 6

It sinks