LEVITY

, the privation or want of weight in any body, when compared with another that is heavier; and in this sense it is opposed to gravity. Thus cork, and most sorts of wood that float in water, have Levity with respect to water, that is, are less heavy. The schools maintained that there is such a thing as positive and absolute Levity; and to this they imputed the rise and buoyancy of bodies lighter in specie than the bodies in which they rise and float. But it is now well known that this happens only in consequence of the heavier and denser fluid, which, by its superior gravity, gains the lowest place, and raises up the lighter body by a force which is equal to the difference of their gravities. It was demonstrated by Archimedes, that a solid body will float any where in a fluid of the same specisic| gravity; and that a lighter body will always be raised up in it.