Beam balance in a vacuum
What will happen with the beam balance, if the air is extracted from the glass?
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a) Nothing will happen. The scales will keep in a good balance because the masses on the weighing pans have not changed.
b) I think that the weighing pan with the chunk of iron will sink because iron is heavier than wood.
c) Sure, the weighing pan with the wooden chunk will sink because the wooden chunk has got a greater volume than the chunk of iron.
d) I think that the weighing pan with the wooden chunk will rise. Wood traps air between its fibres. While generating the vacuum this air is extracted and the wooden chunk becomes a little bit lighter.