The Sink or Swim Orange Experiment!

Questions: 

• Does an orange sink, or float, in water? 
• Does removing the peel make a difference?

What do I need:

•     An orange
•     A bowl of water

Here’s the experiment:

1.  Fill the bowl with water.
2. Next, predictions! When you place your orange in the water, will it sink or will it float? Place it in and find out!.
3. Peel your orange. Now make your prediction: will it sink or float? Place your peeled orange in and find out. 

Whether objects sink or float all comes down to density. Things that are more dense than water sink and things that are less dense float.

 Density describes how heavy something is compared to how big it is.

The orange was initially less dense than water, so it floated.
When you remove the peel, that increases the density and it sinks.
The peel of the orange contains lots of trapped air, which causes the orange to float.  When you take that away and it’s more dense than water. Which is why it sinks.

For more fun experiments, go to: www.magicscientist.com and join the FREE science club.