Submerged Bodies

Abstract

In the first four chapters of his Treatise on the Equilibrium of Liquids, Pascal explained the hydrostatic paradox using what is now known as Pascal’s principle. Now, in the subsequent chapter, Pascal turns his attention to the phenomenon of buoyancy. It had long been known that the buoyant force acting on a submerged body is equal to the weight of the fluid the body displaces. Here Pascal offers a novel interpretation of Archimedes’ principle. He then goes on to address the perplexing question: how is it that marine animals can survive under the crushing weight of the sea.

If a worm were put in a mass of dough, then although it were squeezed between the hands it could never be crushed nor even injured.

—Blaise Pascal