Materials
- 1 whole clementine
- 1 cup (250 mL) plain water
- Clear glass or cup
Instructions
- Fill a clear glass with 1 cup (250 mL) of plain water.
- Gently place the whole clementine (peel on) into the water. Watch what happens. It will usually float because of the peel.
- Remove the clementine, peel it completely, and keep the segments together as one piece (don’t separate them).
- Place the peeled clementine into the same glass of water. This time, the clementine will sink, dropping to the bottom.
- Compare the two results and explain why they differ:Whole clementine → floatsPeeled clementine → sinks
What’s going on?
- The clementine peel is full of tiny air pockets, almost like a natural life jacket. These air pockets lower the overall density of the fruit, making the whole clementine less dense than water, so it floats.
- When you peel the clementine, you remove this “air jacket.” The fruit inside is denser than water, so the peeled clementine sinks.
- The only thing that changes between the two tests is the peel, and the peel controls the fruit’s buoyancy.
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