Orange Buoyancy Experiment

Explore STEM and the concept of buoyancy with this simple science experiment, all you need are two oranges and a jug of water.

For this activity:

1. Take 2 oranges, one peeled and one unpeeled. Which one will sink and which one will float? Make your prediction and then try it out!
2. An orange with a peel is heavier than an orange without a peel. So why does the orange with the peel (the heavier one) float and the orange with the peel (the lighter one) sink?
3. The orange with the peel floats because the peel is filled with tiny air pockets. These pockets of air help increase the buoyancy of the orange. This helps the orange become less dense than the water, so the orange will float. The pockets of air in the orange peel are like tiny floatation devices for the orange!
4. Removing the peel from the orange makes it lighter, and also removes those tiny air pocket floatation devices. Therefore, the orange without the peel is denser than water and it sinks.