Here's an AMI This Week
 Shortcut with Beth Deer
I am joined by Alan
 Nursall from the Telus
Board of Science.
So, Alan, what do you have
 in store for me today?
Oh, this is inspired by some
 great late-night television
stuff I used to watch
 a long time ago.
Will it float?
Floating things are
 mysterious sometimes,
because some things float
 you don't expect to,
and other things do that
 you don't expect to.
And so we have a
 pitcher of water here.
You've got a big tank of
 water in front of you.
And we've got three different
 types of cans of pop.
And we're going to
 see if they float.
I want a prediction
 from you, Beth.
Does a can of pop float
 or does it not float?
Not sure, but I am going
 to go with float I think.
OK, well, there's only
 one way to find out, right?
And that's science.
You've got to put the
 things to the test.
So the first thing
 I'd like you to do
is pick up the can
 of club soda, which
is basically just fizzy water.
Yes.
ALAN NURSALL: Drop it into
 the water and what does it do?
Does it float or does it sink?
OK, uh, it splashed me.
It floats!
ALAN NURSALL: It
 does float, yes.
Yours is floating,
 mine is floating.
Why do you suppose
 it's floating?
Hmm, no idea.
It's got air, there's a
 bit of air in there, right?
Just a little bit of air.
And that's just enough
 to keep it floating.
So put the club
 soda to the side,
and take the can
 of the diet pop,
and then let's see
 what happens when
we drop it into our vessel.
Ah, it splashed me again.
And actually this
 one floats too.
Yes, it floats as well.
We've got two
 floating cans of pop.
BETH DEER: Hmm.
You can take that out now.
Set it aside.
And let's take the
 regular can of pop.
OK, regular can of pop, drop
 it in, and where does it go?
BETH DEER: Ah, oh?
It was kind of
 floating to begin with,
but now it's not floating.
Yours is at the bottom
 and mine is the bottom, too.
What's the difference between
 the can of regular pop
and the other two cans?
BETH DEER: The regular can has
 more like ingredients in it?
There's sugar.
40 grams of sugar
 inside this can
is enough to take it from
 floating to not floating.
So what you're seeing
 really is the weight
of the sugar overcoming
 the buoyancy of the water
and causing the can to sink.
That's the only difference.
What you do with that
 information, I have no idea.
But it's a neat
 little experiment.
It's just cool.
Yeah.
[buzzing]
BETH: So we went from a
 big container of water
to two pint glasses
 and two eggs.
Why?
ALAN: Well, because we're going
 another floating experiment.
And we're going to focus more on
 the properties of the water now
than the substance that
 we're immersing in the water.
If you start with an
 egg, one farm fresh egg,
and drop it into one of your
 glasses of clean fresh water,
where do you think
 it's going to go?
I think it would
 go to the bottom.
Cool thing about
 water, it's there's
different types of water.
There's fresh water
 and there's saltwater.
And they behave a
 little bit differently
when it comes to buoyancy.
I'm going to add salt.
 You've already done this.
I'm going to add salt to my
 second glass and I'm going to,
I'm making the ocean here.
I'm making the Dead
 Sea, Great Salt Lake.
I was going to say, so
 like the glasses are the sea
and eggs are the people.
Yeah, exactly.
So I now have fresh water
 and I have salty water.
Let's see what happens.
I'm going to do both
 my eggs at the same time.
OK, you go right ahead.
OK, here we go.
Ah?
My egg that is in the
 salty glass is floating,
and my egg that is in the glass
 of water is at the bottom.
ALAN NURSALL: Yes,
 just like mine.
The salt increases the
 density of the water.
And by increasing the
 density of the water,
you can increase
 the buoyant force,
that upward pressure that the
 water can exert on anything
that's placed in it.
So boats and other objects that
 are designed to float on water
float better in salt water than
 they do in the fresh water.
They'll actually float
 a little bit higher.
And if you actually look at the
 side of marine going vessels,
you'll see they've got
 different markings.
Markings for fresh
 fresh water and markings
for salt water, because
 they ride the in the water
differently.
Really interesting.
And, to be totally honest, something I've
 never thought about before,
but it's quite cool.
So thank you very much
 for sharing that with me,
and I look forward to doing
 more experiments with you
on "Simple Science."
Thank you very much, Beth.
I'm glad we can, I'm
 glad we can get together
in our kitchens like
 this and do science.
[music playing]
