To find out if islands can be floating, we tried using common island materials: sand, rocks, and sticks. We worked in groups today to attempt to make these materials float. Only the sticks ended up floating, everything else sunk to the bottom of the containers. We concluded that the part of an island we can see above the water must be connected to a part below the water that touches the bottom of the ocean, lake, or river. Soon, we will learn about three different ways that islands can form. Look for future updates as our work continues!
We also thought about things that float, and put them on a continuum from small to medium to large. Things that float can be very large and very heavy!
Bonus science fact! The reason that sand and rocks sink is not because they are heavy. Many very large and heavy things can float. Giant cruise ships and oil tankers are a great example of this. Boat hulls can be made of very heavy materials like steel and concrete. Things float when they have positive buoyancy. A giant ship can float because even though it is very heavy, the volume of water displaced by its hull would weigh even more than it does!
