What Force Keeps a Submerged Rubber Ball in Equilibrium?

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To determine the force required to keep a submerged rubber ball in equilibrium, one must consider the forces acting on it: the weight of the ball, the buoyant force from the water, and the force applied to maintain equilibrium. According to Newton's second law, these forces must balance out, leading to the equation where the sum of forces equals zero. Archimedes' principle states that the buoyant force equals the weight of the displaced water, which is crucial for this calculation. The weight of the ball and the buoyant force must be equal for the ball to remain just below the water's surface. Understanding these principles is essential for solving the problem accurately.
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Homework Statement


Rubber ball filled with air has a diamter of 25.0 cm and a mass of .540 kg. what force is required to hold the ball in equilibrium immediately below the surface of water?



Homework Equations


anyone want to help me out with an equation here?


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Hi there,

From Newton's second law of motion, an equilibrium is define as all the force acting on the object cancel each other. Written in an equation, it becomes:
\sum \vec{F} = 0

In your case, you can easily drop the vector form, since all the forces acting will be vertical:
\sum F = 0

You need to dfine which forces are acting on the ball.

By the way, whether the ball is keep just below the water' surface or in great depth, the force required will be the same.

Cheers
 
so the weight of the ball = the buoyant force necessary to keep the object in equilibrium?

if so the answer would be 5.4 which would be different from the answer sheet.
 
Hi there,

You seem to be missing one force acting on the ball. Archimede's principle says that an object immerge in a liquid is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object.

Therefore, three forces act on the ball: the weight of the ball, the archimede's force, and the force you develop to keep the ball in equilibrium.

Cheers
 
Kindly see the attached pdf. My attempt to solve it, is in it. I'm wondering if my solution is right. My idea is this: At any point of time, the ball may be assumed to be at an incline which is at an angle of θ(kindly see both the pics in the pdf file). The value of θ will continuously change and so will the value of friction. I'm not able to figure out, why my solution is wrong, if it is wrong .
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