You are sitting in a boat on a lake, you have with you in the boat a large rock. You throw the rock out of the boat and it sinks to the bottom of the lake, does the water level of the lake go up, down or stay the same?

Whilst in the boat the rock (and you) are floating, this means that the amount of water displaced by the rock is the mass of the rock. When the rock sinks to the bottom of the lake the amount of water displaced by the rock is the volume of the rock.
As the rock sinks to the bottom of the lake, we know that the rock is more dense than water.
As the rock is more dense than water, the rock will displace more (a greater volume of) water when floating than when at the bottom of the lake. This means that after throwing the rock out of the boat the water level of the lake as a whole will go down.

JB
Answered by Jonathan B. Physics tutor

9687 Views

See similar Physics A Level tutors

Related Physics A Level answers

All answers ▸

Use the kinetic theory of gases to explain why the pressure inside a container increases when the temperature of the air inside it rises. Assume that the volume of the container remains constant.


Why is an object that moves in a circular path accelerating when it has constant speed?


What is the difference between linearly, directly and inversely proportional relationships?


An electron falling from one energy level to another emits a photon of wavelength 550nm. What is the difference between the two energy levels?


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2026 by IXL Learning