/sci/ - Science & Math

The denser substance is pushing down with a greater force, pushing the less dense substance out of the way. The force of gravity is proportional to mass.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buoyancy

This kind of begs a different question as well.

Assume there is no gravity. Would either substance coalesce into any sort of shape or would entropy simply cause them to be randomly scattered?
Assume both substances are inert towards each other. How about now?

Assume there is incredible pressure inside the container. Any difference?

Now assume the container is a perfect sphere inside of an environment with no gravity, but the container is spinning very rapidly.

I'm honestly curious about these situations. Any thoughts?

>>4408539
The more dense substance might be pulled to the center due to microgravity, maybe?
That's my guess.

>s the denser mass would accelerate... slower than the less dense mass according to F = ma. Therefore, I am led to believe that gravity is not the main constituent of the effect I'm talking about.

Gravitational acceleration, ("a" in your force equation) applies equally to both liquids. the denser liquid by definition has more mass and therefore the force of gravity is stronger on the denser liquid

>>4408539

if you eliminate gravity then the fluids would be randomly distributed. There is no force to act in this case. As long as the pressure is uniform throughout the container it doesn't matter either.

If you spin the container you could impart some force via friction to the fluids which could cause them to sort themselves out.

>>4408569
I'm not sure this is theoretically possible, but let's throw a wrench into that.

Say both A and B were of similar mass, but dissimilar structure and molecular makeup. Lets also assume they are inert toward each other and the container. As a further annoyance, say they are of similar viscosity and are neither phobic nor have a philia towards each other.

>>4408639

again, in this case you have the same forces acting on each liquid so it's effectively the same as if you have no force at all.

Separation of substances is actually due to polarity, not density. There is a misconception of why oil and vinegar separate when you put them in a jar. It is not because of density, but because of polarity. The vinegar has more pairs of lone elections than the oil, so it is pulled to the bottom while the oil is pulled to the top.

>>4409654

It's a lot more than just density, for instance, ethanol and water are completly miscible, hence why vodka is a drink. h-bonding, to the electronegative oxygens help keep the too substances miscible, and is a stronger force than the force of gravity trying to seperate the 2 by just density,

>mfw

>>4409669
I prefer my vodka electropositive thank you