Water Water everywhere - water displacement

It's been a very wet summer here on the east coast of the USA. Yesterday and predicted for today still more heavy rain. Here's a way to use your community's porch to enjoy the sounds, sights and smell of rain while having a fun lesson on water displacement.

Materials: Clear plastic cup, plate, water, and bag of 100 pennies.

Process: Place the cup on a plate and fill the cup 1/2 way with water. Seat residents in a circle around the cup and bowl. Give each resident a hand fill of pennies. Have each resident take a turn tossing pennies into the cup. Observe what happens to the water in the cup.

Result: As your add pennies to the cup, the pennies will sink and the water will rise and if you keep adding the water will spill over the cup. This is due to water displacement which happens when any object, such as pennies in this cup, are placed in a fluid, in this case water, causes the fluid to no longer occupy the volume of space. The fluid must go somewhere, thus with water in the cup, the water is forced to rise upward in the cup

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