| Flotation | n. [ Cf. F. flottation a floating, flottaison water line, fr. flotter to float. See Flotilla. ] 1. The act, process, or state of floating. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. The science of floating bodies. [ 1913 Webster ] 3. (Com. & Finance) Act of financing, or floating, a commercial venture or an issue of bonds, stock, or the like. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]
Center of flotation. (Shipbuilding) (a) The center of any given plane of flotation. (b) More commonly, the middle of the length of the load water line. Rankine. --
Plane of flotation, or
Line of flotation, the plane or line in which the horizontal surface of a fluid cuts a body floating in it. See Bearing, n., 9 (c). --
Surface of flotation (Shipbuilding), the imaginary surface which all the planes of flotation touch when a vessel rolls or pitches; the envelope of all such planes. [ 1913 Webster ]
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| Flotation process | . A process of separating the substances contained in pulverized ore or the like by depositing the mixture on the surface of a flowing liquid, the substances that are quickly wet readily overcoming the surface tension of the liquid and sinking, the others flowing off in a film or slime on the surface, though, perhaps, having a greater specific gravity than those that sink. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ] |
