Author(s)

Giancarlo Cavazzini

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse, Padova, Italy.

The interpretation of the equilibrium of a solid body floating on the surface of a liquid body is well known as the “Archimedes’ Principle”. Presently, the equilibrium of the solid body is interpreted as the result of the concurrence of two mechanical actions which are equivalent and opposite: the “weight” of the body, directed downwards, and the “Archimedes’ force” having a magnitude equivalent to the weight of the volume of liquid displaced by the volume of the body immersed in the liquid, directed upwards. We show arguments proving that this interpretation is not a correct physical interpretation. The same arguments show that a new different interpretation is a correct one. The new interpretation is based on the hypothesis that the “weight” of a body immersed in a body-medium is proportional to the volume of the body immersed in the body-medium and to the difference in density between the matter of the body and the matter of the body-medium. Accordingly, if a body is completely immersed in a body-medium, there is only one mechanical action on the body. This action may be downwards or upwards, or its magnitude may be zero. In this last case, the body is in equilibrium within the body-medium.

Archimedes’ Principle, Buoyancy, Density, Weight

Cavazzini, G. (2018) A New Physical Interpretation of Archimedes’ Principle. Journal of Applied Mathematics and Physics, 6, 215-223. doi: 10.4236/jamp.2018.61020.