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Why are bathers able to float so easily in the Dead Sea?
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Dead Sea
Salt deposits at the Dead Sea near Masada, Israel.
Bathers are able to float easily in the Dead Sea because of the water's extreme salinity.12
This high concentration of salt significantly increases the density of the water. According to Archimedes’ principle, an object floats in a fluid when the weight of the fluid it displaces is greater than the weight of the object itself. Because the dense, saline water of the Dead Sea provides a greater upward buoyant force than less dense water, it keeps bathers highly buoyant, making it easy for them to float on the surface.123