Say that I row my bowling ball to the middle of a lake. I drop the ball over the side and watch as it sinks to the bottom. What happens to the water level of the lake? Does it rise, fall or remain the same? Please explain your answer.

Hmmm... good question

I think it stays the same. The act of rowing the bowling ball out in a boat already displaces the effect of the bowling ball weight and then dropping it overboard just changes the location of the ball in/on the water.

Both answers sound good but neither is correct.

oh my!

I have faded remnants of a science experiment in junior high ... but alas, nothing concrete

Hmmm....I'm surprised that neither of these answers are right. I can't believe that I could possibly be wrong on a question of a topic that I'm so knowledgeable on....water! I wish I had a fainting emoticon! Wait...I'm feeling a bit woozy

It's been a long time since I've had to think about this but, isn't there a difference between water displacement by weight vs by volume? The bowling ball is in the boat, which is displacing water by weight.

Let me spritz a little water on poor Cue's face first....

Cheryl, you're bang on! Say that a bowling ball weighs four times as much as its volume in water. If the ball is floating (in the boat), it would displace four balls of water. But if the ball is at the bottom of the lake, it would displace only one ball of water. Because less water is displaced after dropping the ball, the level falls.

Cle-ver!

Oh yeah, I knew about the old bowling ball weight displacement on the row boat effect. That's a really old law. Noah realized it when a white rhino fell overboard. The water level dropped just as they were passing over Mount Ararat which allowed the rhino to stand on the ground saving his life. It was a miracle!