how heavy ships made of heavy metal keeps floating on water...why doen't it sinks?

Answer 1

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It is a thing called displacement. When the ship is sitting in the water, it moves a certain amount of water out of it's way when it pushes down into the water with its weight. This transfers into pressure against the water it is moving. The water is actually trying to move back where it was thus creating pressure. When the water pushing back equals the boat pushing down and out, then the boat stops sinking down and floats. So, as long as the sides of the ship are tall enough to still be above the surface of the water when the boat stops moving down, the boat will float.

You can test this in your sink. Fill your sink with water to about half full. (or half empty if you are a pessimist) Then take a medium sized bowl and set it in the water. Without letting the bowl go, push down gently into the bottom of the bowl. You should feel the water actually pushing the bowl back up. Or pressure of the water resisting the pushing downward. You can find a bowl that will not tip over, and put things in it such as cups. Add more things gradually, and notice the bowl sinking lower and lower as it displaces more water. Eventually, the bowl will have too much weight, the water will come over the sides, and the floating will fail. This pressure is the same pressure you feel when you dive into a pool. The deeper you go, the more your ears feel it.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

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Answer 2

Ships do sink. They sink until they float. An ocean liner doesn't rest on the surface of the water -- it sinks a little bit and then floats along. To better understand how giant ships float, let's imagine a smaller ship, like a rowboat. Just like its bigger cousins, when a rowboat sits in the water, part of the rowboat sinks under the surface. Since the surface of the water used to be flat, the boat must be pushing some water out of the way. Because the rowboat pushes water out of the place where the water used to be, the rowboat displaces an amount of water that weighs exactly as much as the boat weighs. And that's true for every boat on the water everywhere. That's why an empty rowboat (or an empty oil tanker) floats higher in the water than a rowboat full of people (or a tanker full of oil). A rowboat with people in it weighs more than an empty rowboat. So it displaces more water than an empty rowboat. The boat plus the people weigh exactly as much as the water they're displacing . . . every time. Ships float because water is pretty heavy stuff. See, an ocean liner weighs a lot and displaces a huge amount of water. But because it is hollow, the ship sinks only a little bit before it displaces an amount of water that's just as heavy as it is.
solid metal things sink. It's because they can't ever displace an amount of water as heavy as they are.

Answer 3

Bouyancy is the single word answer for it.

Bouyancy is based on the principle that when a body is immersed in water the amount of water displaced by that body exerts a force equal to the weight of the water displaced on that body.

So the vessel kind of shape of the ship as long as dispalces an amount of water which is more heavier than the ship itsleves can remain afloat.
cos the wieght of water displaced by the ship exerts an upward force on the ship

Answer 4

Haven't you heard about Archimedes and the law propounded by him? Simply put, if weight of liquid displaced by a body is greater than weight of body itself, then the body will float. Ship is so designed that weight of water displaced by it is greater than weight of ship. Hence they float.

Answer 5

A principle called buoyancy. When you displace so much water...the vessel will still float, provided it displaces enough water. I prefer submarines though...we shall sink your heavy vessel!!

Answer 6

they float because of their shape, air is inside, and they don't tilt over because the same amount of weight is found under the ship

Answer 7

it's a question of density. by encompassing a large enough volume of air, they become less dense than water, and thus float.

Answer 8

Good question. I like the "big metal bubble" response though.

Answer 9

To put it in laymans terms. A huge steel bubble.

Answer 10

simple physics, it can displace it's weight, in the water