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How to Make an Object Float in the Middle

Objects that are heavier than normal fresh water sink to the bottom, while lighter objects float on the surface. The same rule holds true for liquids that are more or less dense than water -- oil, for example, floats on the surface of water, while denser liquids sink. If you dropped an object into a solution containing a light and a dense liquid -- such as a freshwater/saltwater mix -- that object might become suspended in the middle, provided it is more dense than the lighter solution, but less dense than the heavier solution. You can experiment using freshwater, saltwater and an object such as an egg or potato cube.

Things You'll Need

3 glass beakers or containers
Glass pitcher
Pickling salt
Water
3 dense objects (eggs, potato slices)

Instructions

- 1
  Create a saltwater solution by adding pickling salt to a pitcher of water. According to NASA, the solution should be saturated with salt and water, but it should not be cloudy and you should not have salt crystals at the bottom.
- 2
  Fill one beaker -- Beaker A -- with the saltwater solution.
- 3
  Fill one beaker -- Beaker B -- with fresh water.
- 4
  Fill one beaker -- Beaker C -- halfway with saltwater, halfway with fresh water. Pour the saltwater first, then carefully pour the fresh water on top. You do not want to fresh water to mix with the salt water; slowly pour the fresh water down the side of the glass or down a spoon or rod so that it sits on top of the saltwater solution.
- 5
  Drop a dense object into each beaker. This experiment commonly uses chicken eggs or potato slices. The object should float in Beaker A, sink in Beaker B and float in the middle of the solution in Beaker C.

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