State the law of flotation.

The law of flotation states that a floating object displaces its own weight of the fluid in which it floats. This means that the weight of the object is equal to the weight of the fluid it displaces, allowing it to float on the surface of the fluid.

An object either floats or sinks in a fluid because there is a net force acting on it due to the fluid. The direction of the net force is upward if the object floats and downward if it sinks. The magnitude of the net force is equal to the difference between the weight of the fluid displaced by the object and the weight of the object.