archimedes principle debunked, confusing you :)

[AndyJWest]

Originally Posted by bongodriver

center of gravity

Yup. The centre of gravity of the stick id presumably half way along its length, while the centre of buoyancy is half way along the length of the immersed portion - which puts it below the CoG. This is dynamically unstable., as any slight tilt will tend to increase. If the stick is horizontal, it may roll on its own long axis to reach the most stable position (which will depend on the cross section), but any tilt along its length will be self correcting.

For many real floating objects, the situation is more complex than this - a ship can have multiple 'stable' orientations, and the 'funnel up' one may actually be the least stable. See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metacentre#Metacenter.