Do your kids ever ask questions about animals and your not sure how to answer or explain them? Mine do too, and then we have to find a way to replicate it to learn more. Similar to when we were learning about how arctic animals stay warm. This shark buoyancy is another great animal science experiment for animal lovers.

Shark Buoyancy – Animal Science Experiment

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We love hands on learning here, science experiments are a favorite way to learn and spend our time together in our family and homeschool. This science is easy to do, and perfect for shark week in July.

Floating Shark Science Experiment

What you need:

a large bowl filled with water
balloons
dish detergent
water
vegetable oil
marker (optional)

What you do:

Add about 1/4 cup of dish detergent, oil, and water to each of your balloons. Try to get any air out of your balloon before tying the knot or it will affect your experiment.
Fill a large bowl with water.
Draw a face on your balloons – optional.
Place your balloons into the bowl of water and watch what happens.

What you see happening:

What happens when you place the balloons in the water? Does one float? Does one sink? Is there one that is just kinda floating there in the middle?

There is one balloon that is going to float and this is the answer to how sharks can float and why this shark buoyancy animal science experiment can be a success. Tip: make sure to get all the air out of the balloons or it will throw this experiment off.

Shark Buoyancy - Science experiment

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Active Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Estimated Cost: $1

Let's learn more about how shark float.

Materials

balloons
vegetable oils
dish detergent
water

Tools

A large bowl of water.

Instructions

Add about 1/4 cup of dish detergent, oil, and water to each of your balloons. Try to get any air out of your balloon before tying the knot or it will affect your experiment.
Fill a large bowl with water.
Draw a face on your balloons - optional.
Place your balloons into the bowl of water and watch what happens.

Notes

Check out Arctic animal science experiments for more animal science fun.

What Helps Sharks Float

Sharks rely on their liver which has oil and fats. Their liver has two parts filled with oil and fats, substances that are lighter than water helping them to float. Liver is as much as 30% of the shark weight, and although it helps for buoyancy, sharks must swim continuously to avoid sinking.

More Learning about Sharks:

Animal Science Activity

We’ll be doing more animal related science projects around here as I have three kids who love hands on learning and science experiments. My oldest, she is an animal lover and wants to learn everything she can. Make sure you check out our arctic animal experiment, and learn how animals stay warm in freezing cold temperatures of the arctic and similar place.