2006-08-26 20:29:32 · 5 answers · asked by deni14 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Homework Help
A ship has to be designed in such a way as to displace water that weighs more than itself.
Example: if a ship was suspended on huge straps over the water in a large swimming pool and it was slowly lowered, you could measure the water in the pool as it rose higher. The air space inside the ship has to push away water that adds up to more weight than the boat wieghs. At the point where the ship and the water pushed aside are equal in weight, the ship will stop moving downward into the water.
2006-08-26 20:40:47 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The standard definition of floating was first recorded by Archimedes and goes something like this: An object in a fluid experiences an upward force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object.
So if a boat weighs 1,000 pounds (or kilograms), it will sink into the water until it has displaced 1,000 pounds (or kilograms) of water. Provided that the boat displaces 1,000 pounds of water before the whole thing is submerged, the boat floats.
It is not very hard to shape a boat in such a way that the weight of the boat has been displaced before the boat is completely underwater. The reason it is so easy is that a good portion of the interior of any boat is air (unlike a cube of steel, which is solid steel throughout). The average density of a boat -- the combination of the steel and the air -- is very light compared to the average density of water. So very little of the boat actually has to submerge into the water before it has displaced the weight of the boat.
2006-08-26 20:38:46 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Are you serious? The ship floats because it isn't solid. By being shaped in the form of what we call a boat, the iron ship is able to displace a volume of water that weighs more than the entire ship. If you had a ship that was completely solid, that is just solid iron, like the nail, and no air chambers, like rooms, and all of that crap, it would sink too.
2016-03-26 21:36:54 · answer #3 · answered by Farin 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
this obeys the concept of density... the ship foats bcuz it has a layer of air between the surface... thus the density is lower than water, so it floats...
2006-08-26 20:44:45 · answer #4 · answered by time-OUT 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the nail is heaver than the amount of water it displaces the ship is lighter than the amount of water it displaces
2006-08-26 20:35:07 · answer #5 · answered by norsmen 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋