Floating Iceberg Displacing 723m³ of Water

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around calculating the volume of water displaced by a floating iceberg, given its emerged volume and the densities of ice and seawater. The original poster presents a calculation that leads to a displacement volume of 723 m³, which differs from the book's answer of 1050 m³.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Problem interpretation

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants explore different methods to equate the weight of the iceberg with the buoyant force, questioning the assumptions made in the calculations. Some participants express confusion regarding the relationship between submerged volume and displaced water, while others suggest that rounding errors may affect the results.

Discussion Status

The discussion is ongoing, with various interpretations of the problem being explored. Some participants have offered alternative approaches and calculations, but there is no explicit consensus on the correct answer yet.

Contextual Notes

Participants are working under the constraints of a homework problem, which may limit the information available for their calculations. There is also a noted discrepancy between the original poster's calculations and the textbook answer, prompting further examination of the methods used.

Felafel
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Homework Statement


I think it should be pretty simple, but my result and that of the book are different:
How much water does an iceberg displace (Its emerged part is ##V_i=100m^3##)


The Attempt at a Solution


knowing the density of sea water is ##d_w=1.03*10^3 kg/m^3## and that of ice ##d_i=0.92*10^3 kg/m^3## i can calculate the volume of the submerged part of the iceberg:

##\frac{d_i}{d_w}=0.89%## meaning the total volume of the iceberg is ##100:11=x:100##
x=909. The submerged part is then 909-100=809m^3. now, since the iceberg floats, its weight and archimedes' force should be equal, then:

##m \cdot g= d_w \cdot g \cdot V_w## and so:
##809 \cdot 92=103 \cdot v_w## ##\Rightarrow## ##V_w=723 m^3##
but according to the book it should be 1050m^3
what's wrong in my reasoning?
thank you in advance
 
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IMO, the book's answer is incorrect.
I don't follow your ratio method.

What I did was to say the x = submerged volume of the iceberg. Then I wrote an equation setting the weight of the iceberg = to the buoyancy of the iceberg. Solve for x.
 
I don't understand your method. I get two incognitas:

Weight of the iceberg: mass multiplied g, where the mass is volume divided density and x is the submerged volume. Buoyancy= g multiplied the volume of displaced water (which i don't know) multiplied the density of the water

##\frac{x+100}{d_{ice}} \cdot g=V_w \cdot g \cdot d_{w}##
but i don't know both x and V_w
 
How is displaced water different from submerged volume?
 
Felafel said:
##\frac{d_i}{d_w}=0.89%## meaning the total volume of the iceberg is ##100:11=x:100##
Because it gets subtracted from 1, effectively, the rounding error in truncating it to 0.89 becomes significant. You need to use a couple more digits of precision.
x=909. The submerged part is then 909-100=809m^3.
The method looks ok to here, but as Borek points out this should also be the volume of water displaced. I don't understand what you did from here.
Fwiw, I get 836 cu m.
 
haruspex said:
Fwiw, I get 836 cu m.

And you are not alone :wink:
 
now everything's clear :) thank you!
 
Felafel said:
I don't understand your method. I get two incognitas:

Weight of the iceberg: mass multiplied g, where the mass is volume divided density and x is the submerged volume. Buoyancy= g multiplied the volume of displaced water (which i don't know) multiplied the density of the water

##\frac{x+100}{d_{ice}} \cdot g=V_w \cdot g \cdot d_{w}##
but i don't know both x and V_w


Let x = submerged volume of iceberg

Total volume of iceberg = (x + 100) cu. m.

Mass of iceberg = 920 kg/m^3 * (x + 100) m^3

Since the iceberg is floating, the mass of the iceberg = mass of the displaced water
(this is Archimedes Principle),

Therefore,
mass of displaced water = x * 1030

equating displacement of iceberg to mass of iceberg,

1030*x = 920 * (x + 100)

Solve for x
 

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