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On the one hand, it seems like there's a higher density of 'stuff' in a nucleus, so it should be more dense. On the other hand, if it was more dense, I'd imagine that nuclei would 'settle' to the bottom of a cell, which would be rather surprising.

Update: http://www.eng.umd.edu/~nsw/ench485/lab10.htm reports nucleic density of 1.4 g/cm3.

https://books.google.com/books?id=t4ZQRWvr510C&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85&dq=cytoplasm%20density%20g%2Fcm3&source=bl&ots=rEkcu0HzZE&sig=Bs4MVad_pbS7vWY2pRv6ALWf-bc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj2rLXVnLbJAhVSlogKHUjAAS8Q6AEIMTAD#v=onepage&q=cytoplasm%20density%20g%2Fcm3&f=false reports a density of 1.03 - 1.1 g/cm3 for cytoplasm, so less dense.

do nuclei sink then? or is ICF too viscous / there too much disturbance through movement for nucleus to sink?

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  • $\begingroup$ When you search images of cells by electron microscopy(EM), some nuclei are denser than cytosol, but others are not. You could also find partial dense area in nuclei. EM is telling how crowd with atoms the areas are. google.com/… $\endgroup$
    – 243
    Nov 29, 2015 at 7:09

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When you hang up your shirt does it fall to the bottom of your closet?

The nucleus is a dense fibrillar network of DNA, RNA, and proteins, yes, but the subject you should take a look at is the cytoskeleton of the cell. It will will answer all your unanswered questions on the intracellular network that stabilizes, supports, and aligns the organelles within the cell.

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  • $\begingroup$ If the shirt isn't hung up correctly. :D That makes sense, thanks for the explanation and amusing analogy. $\endgroup$
    – Kurt Spindler
    Nov 30, 2015 at 5:11

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