Does an orange float or sink?

A simple sink or float activity is a beginner science experiment that introduces young learners to the properties of density and buoyancy.

WHAT YOU NEED

2 oranges

2 clear tall glasses or 1 larger clear container

Water

WHAT YOU DO

1. Fill glasses or large container three-fourths full of water.

2. Guess if oranges will float or sink. Add unpeeled orange to the water. What happened?

3. Will anything change if you peel the orange? Find out.

The science behind it

An orange with a rind is heavier than an orange without a rind. So why does the orange with the rind float and the orange without the rind sink?

The orange with the peel floats because the rind is porous and filled with tiny air pockets. These pockets of air make the orange less dense than water and cause it to float. When you remove the rind from the orange, you are also removing those tiny air pockets. Therefore, the orange without the peel is more dense than water and it sinks.