Question

Suppose you throw a cube-shaped object and a spherical-shaped object of equal volume in the same volume of water. The ball sinks and the cube floats. Which explains why this might be?


The objects probably have different surface areas.



The objects probably have different densities.



In general, cubes float better than spheres because they are flatter.

Answer 1

The objects have different densities
They objects may possess the same volume; however, due to a difference in density, they do not possess the same mass within that volume. This means that they experience a different gravitational force, which causes one to sink and the other to float.