It would probably end up right next to the tape measure I've been looking for since Sunday.
this post was submitted on 26 May 2026
139 points (99.3% liked)
xkcd
16498 readers
477 users here now
A community for a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
Trying to measure how deep the trench is?
Were you on a boat over the Mariana Trench on Sunday?
Thanks. Now I know that bowling balls float.
I was more interested if it would compress than where they floated
It sank to the bottom
There was no depth where it floated? Interesting.
because water is fairly incompressible, the density of sea water doesn't change much as you go down
Therefore no there isn't a depth where the weight of the seawater above compresses the water to a density equal to that of the bowling ball
Water's not compressible, so the density doesn't change with depth. Either the bowling ball is denser than water or less dense than water.
Water is compressible; it has a bulk modulus of about 2.2 GPa. So at the 1086 bar at the bottom of the Mariana trench (~109 MPa), it'll have compressed about (109 / 2200) ~= 5%. Materials with a different bulk modulus to water may start to float at sufficiently high depths.
Water does change density with temperature, so it is denser the deeper you go. I doubt there's a normal bowling ball weight that would have the right density for it to float at some random depth though.
I think these calculations could be wrong, considering that the ball would either absorb water and decrease in density or implode / break
A diversion to average bowling ball but no tungsten bowling ball? Outrageous.