Iceberg Submersion Calculation

What percent of an iceberg is above the surface of the water?

Given the specific gravity of ice is 0.917 and that of seawater is 1.025, how can we determine the percentage of an iceberg that is above the surface of the seawater?

Answer:

Using Archimedes' Principle, around 10.24% of the iceberg is above the surface of the seawater.

To determine what percent of an iceberg is above the surface of the seawater, we apply the principle of flotation based on Archimedes' Principle. This principle states that the buoyant force on a submerged object is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object.

Given the specific gravity of ice is 0.917 and that of seawater is 1.025, we can calculate the fraction of the iceberg that is submerged by using the ratio of the density of ice to the density of seawater (0.917/1.025). This ratio indicates the volume of ice that is submerged compared to its total volume.

To find the percentage above water, we subtract this fraction from 1 and then multiply by 100%:

Submerged fraction of iceberg = Density of ice / Density of seawater = 0.917 / 1.025

Percentage above water = (1 - Submerged fraction) × 100%

Therefore, around 10.24% of the iceberg is above the surface of the seawater.