Question

You have a bag of cotton and an iron bar, each indicating a mass of 100 kg when measured on a weighing machine. In reality, one is heavier than other. Can you say which one is heavier and why?

Answer 1

The bag of cotton is heavier than the iron bar. This is because the surface area of the cotton bag is larger than the iron bar. Hence, more buoyant force acts on the bag than that on an iron bar. This makes the cotton bag heavier than its actual value. For this reason, the iron bar and the bag of cotton show the same mass on the weighing machine, but actually the mass of cotton bag is more that that of the iron bar.

Actual weight = Measured Weight + Buoyant Force