Water as weight rather than lead?

[Paul Evans]

alright alright, Iam embarresed........................

I meant the other way round

 

[ShakaZulu]

So, when you pee in your wetsuit, do you become less buoyent???

 

[mccabejc]

Yes, Shakazulu. Every have a buddy suddenly shoot to the surface? Mystery solved.

It's also a function of how many beers you've had the night before.

 

[Mo2vation]

Witches, ducks and wood float.
To determine if an object will be useful as ballast, it must be heavier than a duck.
Get a really big balance scale. Put a witch or a duck on one side and your ballast on the other side.

I believe very small rocks also float.

K

 

[Don Burke]

What really confuses things is that submarines take on water in order to become less bouyant and therefore "dive". You could always wear doubles but keep one tank full of water instead of air. Really, if water caused negative bouyancy, we would all have light weight collapsible plastic weight bags we would add water to once we reached a dive destination or they would be built into our BC's.

The area once occupied by the BC bladder is filled with water, so a diver is getting the same effect as a submarine does when the main ballast tank vents are opened and water replaces the air in the main ballast tanks.

 

[Snowbear]

What really confuses things is that submarines take on water in order to become less bouyant and therefore "dive".

To do that, don't they actually replace air with water? If so, then yes - by removing air and replacing it with water, they would in fact become less positively buoyant.

 

[Curt Bowen]

the question:

can you use water as weight, instead of lead weight?

For example, say that you take containers of water instead of lead. Yes, water weights six pounds per gallon, so you would have to take two gallons of water to equal 12 pounds, but...

Say you tie two milk gallons full of water to your waist...

Wouldn’t it be the same as wearing lead weights?

We were having this discussion, and someone was saying that wouldn’t work, because the water would “float on water."

is this correct?

I think your joking? Right

Weight is about displacement, thats how a fishing sinker sinks and an aircraft carrier floats.

Now, 1 gallon of salt water put in fresh water will sink and one gallon of fresh put in salt will float. If the gallon container is completely neutral that is.

 

[Charlie99]

If I replace my 10 pounds of lead with gold, how much less weight do I have to carry on the weightbelt?

 

[MikeFerrara]

To do that, don't they actually replace air with water? If so, then yes - by removing air and replacing it with water, they would in fact become less positively buoyant.

Yes. They switch between air to become pos to water to become neg.

Just like a divers bc. We fill the space with air or remove the air causing the same space to be occupied with water.

 

[Don Burke]

If I replace my 10 pounds of lead with gold, how much less weight do I have to carry on the weightbelt?

Platinum would be more effective, as would osmium.