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schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de to xkcd@lemmy.worldEnglish · 6 months ago

What if you dropped a bowling ball in the Mariana Trench?

www.youtube.com

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What if you dropped a bowling ball in the Mariana Trench?

www.youtube.com

schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de to xkcd@lemmy.worldEnglish · 6 months ago
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Get a copy of What If? 2 and Randall’s other books at: https://xkcd.com/booksMore serious answers to absurd questions at: https://what-if.xkcd.com/This quest...
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  • ptu@sopuli.xyz
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    6 months ago

    I was more interested if it would compress than where they floated

  • dbtng@eviltoast.org
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    6 months ago

    Thanks. Now I know that bowling balls float.

  • in_my_honest_opinion@piefed.social
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    6 months ago

    A diversion to average bowling ball but no tungsten bowling ball? Outrageous.

  • Lovable Sidekick@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    It would probably end up right next to the tape measure I’ve been looking for since Sunday.

    • JennaR8r@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      6 months ago

      Were you on a boat over the Mariana Trench on Sunday?

    • SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de
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      6 months ago

      Trying to measure how deep the trench is?

  • homes@piefed.world
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    6 months ago

    It sank to the bottom

    • spittingimage@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      There was no depth where it floated? Interesting.

      • akwd169@sh.itjust.works
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        5 months ago

        because water is fairly incompressible, the density of sea water doesn’t change much as you go down

        Therefore no there isn’t a depth where the weight of the seawater above compresses the water to a density equal to that of the bowling ball

      • tal@lemmy.today
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        6 months ago

        Water’s not compressible, so the density doesn’t change with depth. Either the bowling ball is denser than water or less dense than water.

        • addie@feddit.uk
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          6 months ago

          Water is compressible; it has a bulk modulus of about 2.2 GPa. So at the 1086 bar at the bottom of the Mariana trench (~109 MPa), it’ll have compressed about (109 / 2200) ~= 5%. Materials with a different bulk modulus to water may start to float at sufficiently high depths.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulk_modulus#Selected_values

        • Duallight@lemmy.today
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          6 months ago

          Water does change density with temperature, so it is denser the deeper you go. I doubt there’s a normal bowling ball weight that would have the right density for it to float at some random depth though.

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