Saturn would float in a bathtub
The video plays from YouTube (youtube-nocookie.com). Nothing is loaded from YouTube until you press play.
Big planets are heavy, so they would all sink in water, right? Not Saturn: it is about 95 times heavier than Earth, but it is so huge and made mostly of hydrogen and helium that, on average, it is lighter than water. If you could find a bathtub big enough, Saturn would float, and it is the only planet in our solar system that would.
Watch it on
Transcript
- Sef Drop a planet into water. It sinks, right?
- Tiggy Earth would. Saturn wouldn't.
- Sef But Saturn is ninety-five times heavier than Earth!
- Tiggy What matters is how heavy it is for its size.
- Tiggy Saturn is mostly hydrogen and helium, the two lightest gases.
- Tiggy So on average, it's lighter than water.
- Tiggy If you found a bathtub big enough, Saturn would float.
- Sef What about Jupiter?
- Tiggy Sinks. Only Saturn would float.
Sources
- NASA Science: Saturn Facts science.nasa.gov
- NASA Saturn Fact Sheet nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov
- NASA Planetary Fact Sheet nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov
- Caltech IPAC Cool Cosmos: Can Saturn really float on water? coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu
- Guinness World Records: Least dense planet guinnessworldrecords.com
Spotted a mistake? Email [email protected] and we’ll check it.