If you turn the wheel, bubbles lift from the bottom of the cylinder and the floating sinks. If you stop producing bubbles, the ship will emerge to the surface again.
Any object, wholly or partially submerged in a fluid, is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid "pushed out by the object" - Archimedes' principle.
If the density of the liquid is high → also the buoyancy force is high.
The experiment is a model of the most accepted scientific explanations of the Bermuda Triangle mystery. In this area many ships have disappeared in mysterious circumstances.
According to the explanations, the seabed rocks, from time to time, release huge methane bubbles that reduce buoyancy forces. According to another scientific explanation the disasters can be explained by the particular weather type of that area.
