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by dogprez 924 days ago
That's a tricky one though since the question is, is the air inside of the rubber duck part of the material that makes it? If you removed the air it definitely wouldn't look the same or be considered a rubber duck. I gave it to the bot since when taking ALL the material that makes it a rubber duck, it is less dense than water.
2 comments

A rubber duck in a vacuum is still a rubber duck and it still floats (though water would evaporate too quickly in a vacuum, it could float on something else of the same density).
A rubber duck with a vacuum inside (removing the air material) of it is just a piece of rubber with eyes. Assuming OP's point about the rubber not being less dense than water, it would sink, no?
No. Air is less dense than water; vacuum is even less dense than air. A rubber duck will collapse if you seal it and try to pull a vacuum inside with air outside, but if the rubber duck is in a vacuum then it will have only vacuum inside and it will still float on a liquid the density of water. If you made a duck out of a metal shell you could pull a vacuum inside, like a thermos bottle, and it would float too.
The metal shell is ridged though, so the volume maintains the same with the vacuum. A rubber duck collapses with a vacuum inside of it, thus losing the shape of a duck and reducing the volume of the object =). That's why I said it's just a piece of rubber with eyes.
> A rubber duck collapses with a vacuum inside of it

Not if there is vacuum outside too. In a vacuum it remains a duck and still floats.

If you hold a rubber duck under water and squeeze out the air, it will fill with water and still be a rubber duck. If you send a rubber duck into space, it will become almost completely empty but still be a rubber duck. Therefore, the liquid used to fill the empty space inside it is not part of the duck.

I mean apply this logic to a boat, right? Is the entire atmosphere part of the boat? Are we all on this boat as well? Is it a cruise boat? If so, where is my drink?