Less of the boat will be underwater once some of the weight is removed, but the water will get deeper because of the extra stones.
It depends what you mean by "floats". If the ship is completely 100% floating, then the water will rise since stones have a bigger volume than nothing, but if half of the ship is underwater and half is floating for example, then by taking away some weight, you will get less of the boat underwater but more of the stones so it will stay roughly the same.
The question has very poor contextual information.
Probably, they mean the water level relative to the boat. That will lower, because the boat weights less, so less force is needed to keep it out of the water, so less volume will be under water.
If the question means relative to the ground level there are two effects that have effect on the water level:
- Same effect as above: The boat will have less water because it loses weigt, so it will have less volume under water. Less volume that get's "pushed aside", so the water level lowers.
- Then there's the effect of the stone falling in the water, which pushes water aside, and causes the water level to rise.
So one effect lowers it, one causes it to rise. Which one will have the most effect depends on the density of the stone, which isn't given, so the question probably means "relative to the boat" or is unsolvable.
Comments
Less of the boat will be underwater once some of the weight is removed, but the water will get deeper because of the extra stones.
It depends what you mean by "floats". If the ship is completely 100% floating, then the water will rise since stones have a bigger volume than nothing, but if half of the ship is underwater and half is floating for example, then by taking away some weight, you will get less of the boat underwater but more of the stones so it will stay roughly the same.
The question has very poor contextual information.
Probably, they mean the water level relative to the boat. That will lower, because the boat weights less, so less force is needed to keep it out of the water, so less volume will be under water.
If the question means relative to the ground level there are two effects that have effect on the water level:
- Same effect as above: The boat will have less water because it loses weigt, so it will have less volume under water. Less volume that get's "pushed aside", so the water level lowers.
- Then there's the effect of the stone falling in the water, which pushes water aside, and causes the water level to rise.
So one effect lowers it, one causes it to rise. Which one will have the most effect depends on the density of the stone, which isn't given, so the question probably means "relative to the boat" or is unsolvable.
You can call Archimedes then ask him for the answer.