Question

describe a simple experiment to determine if s brass statue is solid as claimed by its vendor (with out cutting open to see)

Answer 1

We will use the method of Buoyancy as used by the famous philosopher Archimedes to determine if the statue is solid or hollow.

At first we will hang the statue by a spring scale and measure its weight in air say W

Now, the statue needs to be immersed in water. At this position we note down the weight of the statue say W'

By Archimedes principle, the difference in these weights is equal to the Buoyant force i.e.,

V is the volume of the solid, is the density of the fluid and g is the acceleration due to gravity

Now, using the weight of the statue in air we determine its density,

Now if these density is equal to the standard density of brass then we can infer it is a solid brass statue.

However if the values disagree we can say that the statue is hollow.