--- title: Floating and sinking: the push of the water — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Floating and sinking: the push of the water», a lesson of the physics course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Water pushes up on anything you put in it, and the push is as big as the weight of the water the thing moves out of the way. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/11-floating-and-sinking/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Physics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/) / Floating and sinking: the push of the… # Floating and sinking: the push of the water Lesson 11 of the physics course of Mova's primary school: 18 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/physics/11-floating-and-sinking/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/11-floating-and-sinking/0/) — Water pushes up on anything you put in it, and the push is as big as the weight of the water the thing moves out of the way. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/11-floating-and-sinking/1/) — Climb into the bath and the water rises: your body has pushed water aside, and that water pushes back up on you. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/11-floating-and-sinking/2/) — Something floats if it is lighter than the same size of water: wood floats, a stone sinks, and a hollow steel ship floats because it is mostly air inside. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/11-floating-and-sinking/3/) — Shape matters too: a ball of clay sinks, but the same clay pressed into a little boat moves aside much more water and floats. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/11-floating-and-sinking/4/) — Salty water pushes up harder than fresh water, which is why you float more easily in the sea. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/11-floating-and-sinking/5/) — Water pushes up on anything in it, with a force as big as the weight of the water it moves aside. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/11-floating-and-sinking/6/) — Things float if they are lighter than the same size of water; wood is light for its size and stone is heavy for its size. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/11-floating-and-sinking/7/) — A big beach ball moves aside lots of water but weighs little, so it is hard to hold under and shoots back up. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/11-floating-and-sinking/8/) — The water in the bath rises when you get in, by as much water as the part of you under the surface. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/11-floating-and-sinking/9/) — Archimedes is said to have noticed this in his bath and shouted "Eureka!", but the story may not be true. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/11-floating-and-sinking/10/) — A steel ship floats because it is hollow and full of air, so the water it moves aside weighs more than the ship; squashed into a lump, it would sink. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/11-floating-and-sinking/11/) — The same clay sinks as a ball but floats as a boat, because the boat shape moves aside more water. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/11-floating-and-sinking/12/) — A loaded ship sits lower in the water, and a line painted on its side shows how deep it may safely sit. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/11-floating-and-sinking/13/) — Salty water is heavier than fresh water, so it pushes up harder, and in the very salty Dead Sea people float sitting up. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/11-floating-and-sinking/14/) — An egg sinks in tap water but floats when lots of salt is stirred in, and a rotten egg floats even in fresh water because gas has built up inside. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/11-floating-and-sinking/15/) — You float best lying back with your lungs full of air, and breathing out makes you sink a little. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/11-floating-and-sinking/16/) — Muscle sinks more than fat, so very sporty people may float less well. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/11-floating-and-sinking/17/) — A life jacket is full of foam or air, adding lots of size but little weight, and a good one turns you face up even if you cannot swim; it also keeps up a good swimmer who gets tired, cold or hurt. - ← previous: [Swings and pendulums](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/10-swings-and-pendulums/) - next →: [Floating in the real world: ice, submarines and balloons](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/12-ice-submarines-and-balloons/) - ↑ back to [Physics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/)