A barge is carrying a load of gravel along a river.

Itapproaches a low bridge, and the captain realizes that the top

ofthe pile of gravel is not going to make it under the bridge.

Thecaptain orders the crew to quickly shovel gravel from the pile

intothe water. Is this a good decision? Explain.

Shoveling gravel into the water will increase the buoyancy of the barge, which will make it float higher. Without data it is hard to tell if it will raise the barge enough to be counterproductive, but in any case throwing away the payload is not a good idea. Adding some weights would make the barge float lower, and then maybe the plie can make it under the bridge.