Consider a steel ball floating on the surface of mercury in a half-filled container. What happens when the rest of the container is filled with water

Answer

The steel ball will be caught up in between the mercury and water medium.

Step-by-step explanation:

Mercury with a density of 13546 kg/m^3 water with a density of 1000 kg/m^3 Steel with a density of 8050 kg/m^3

From the factual density of both substances given above, it shows that mercury is more heavier than water. In that case mercury will be at the lower layer when mixed with water.

The steel ball will be caught in between both mixtures as the density of steel is 8050 kg/m^3. Which is more than Water but less than Mercury.