There is a swimming pool with a boat in it. In the boat is an anchor. The boat is roughly the size of the pool, and the pool is roughly the shape of the boat.
Lets say you take the anchor out of the boat and put it on the ground. In this case, the water level will lower relative to the sides of the pool.
Now, instead of putting the anchor on the ground, you put the anchor in the water. I would say that the overall water level wouldn't change because although the water level lowes when the anchor is removed from the boat, it will displace water again and raise the water level back to where is was when the anchor was in the boat.
This was a homework problem that I had a few weeks ago and its been bugging the hell out of me, because I got it wrong. The right answer is the water level lowers. A buddy of mine said its because the anchor doesn't displace water when it is in the water. Yeah, ok man
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.png)
Anyone have any ideas? Would the weight of the anchor cause the boat to displace more water than if the anchor were in the water by itself? I guess this would make sense for a very dense anchor, but what about an anchor with a density closer to that of water?