Strange orange

Ingredients:

- A pitcher of water or large glass of water

- An orange or lemon

The Recipe:

1) Drop an unpeeled orange in a pitcher of water.

Did it sink or float?

2) Peel it!

3) Drop it in the pitcher of water again.

Did it sink or float?

Food for Thought:

Before reading the section below, try one more thing. Drop one of the peels in the water and see if it sinks or floats.

The peel floated, didn't it?

Because the peel is designed to protect the inside of the orange, its structure is different. Besides being tougher than the sweet interior, the peel also contains a lot of air. This makes the peel less dense or lighter than the inside of the orange. The peel is less dense than water or light enough to float, but the inside fruit is denser than water so it sinks. In fact, the peel is so light that if it is wrapped around the orange (an unpeeled orange), the peel will keep the orange from sinking.

Source:http://www.doscience.com/act_archive/home_activities/fruit_float/index.html