Oil floating on water

[lovejoy0120]

Knowing that oil floats on water what would happen if you filled a drum that could hold 100 litres of liquid,filled it up with 50 litres of water and then emptied 100 litres of oil into it ?It can't sink ,unless it has instant freezing capabilities it can't build up like a lump of jelly upon the water so what happens ?

Thanks

[naz_nomad]

You'd end up with 50 litres of oil on your shoes

[greenie87]

^ ^ ^ exactly

[greenie87]

get a litre of water and two litres of oil... a two litre bottle and find out! u will ed up in a mess thou

[stevie21]

It can sink temporarily, due to gravity. Same as a log falling into a river will go below the surface and then float back up.
Depending on how gently (or not) the oil is poured in, it might force some water out.

If it's poured in really gently, why can't it do your jelly analogy?

[brachiopod]

Ever seen those cocktails where they "float" the alcohol on top of the sweet, sugar and water based liquid underneath?

Or a "float" coffee, where the fatty emulsion (cream), sits atop the denser water and sugar solution underneath?

In both cases, the less dense (alcohol or fatty cream) is poured in carefully and slowly so that it sits on top of the more dense water-based liquid.

In your barrel of oil scenario, as stevie says, it depends how quickly or slowly your pour it in, from what height, in a jet, a big spalsh etc. etc.

If you pour it in carefully and slowly, only oil will overflow the barrel rim. Chuck it in at once from a great height, and a mixture of oil and water, (and more than 50 litres at that) will overflow.