Iceberg Buoyancy Simulator (2D)

Iceberg

Size 100 m

Shape (blocky ↔ jagged peak) 40%

Ice density

Density 900 kg/m³

Iceberg settled at equilibrium — buoyant force equals weight.

Live Readout

Submerged

90%

Above water

10%

Mass (per m depth)

0 t

Displaced water

0 m³

How it works

Archimedes' principle: a floating body displaces exactly its own weight in water. For a body of uniform density ρ_ice floating in a fluid of density ρ_water, the submerged volume fraction is simply ρ_ice / ρ_water — independent of the iceberg's size or shape.

Glacial ice runs about 830–920 kg/m³ (it traps air bubbles, so it is lighter than solid ice at 917 kg/m³); seawater is denser than fresh water because of dissolved salt (≈1025 kg/m³ vs 1000 kg/m³). That density gap is why real icebergs float with roughly 90% of their bulk hidden underwater — the origin of the phrase "tip of the iceberg" — and why the same berg would ride slightly lower in fresh water than in the sea.

This simulator computes the true submerged fraction for the exact jagged polygon drawn on screen (not just a idealized cube): it clips the shape at a trial waterline, measures the underwater area, and searches for the waterline height where displaced area matches the target ratio — the same equilibrium condition a real iceberg finds on its own.

Ice above waterline Ice submerged