The physical property that allows a cork to float on water is density. If the density of an object is less than that of water it will float. If the density is greater it will sink and if the density is about the same it should settle somewhere in the middle.
Density is equal to mass over volume. The more dense an object the heavier it will be when compared to the same volume of a less dense object.
If you think about how light a cork is in comparison to many other objects you can tell that is is not dense at all.
While density is the direct property, specific gravity is another property that could explain why a cork would float on water. Specific gravity is equal to the density of the object divided by the density of water. If the specific gravity is less than 1 the object floats, if it is greater than one the object sinks. If the specific gravity is equal to 1 it rests somewhere in the middle.
Density is the physical property that allows a cork to float on water. Briefly, cork is less dense than the water. In other words, it is lighter than water and, hence, it floats on the water.
Density is the ratio of mass to volume of a given substance. For example, the density of water is about 1 gram per milliliter (g/ml). In comparison, the density of cork is 0.24 gram per milliliter (g/ml). This means that cork is only 24% as heavy as water. This is the reason why cork floats on the surface of water.
This can also be explained in the terms of another property known as the specific gravity, which is the ratio of the density of a given substance to that of a standard fluid (generally, water). The specific gravity of cork is 0.24, which means that cork is lighter than water. As a result, it floats on the surface of the water.
Hope this helps.
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