2006-10-09 13:27:49 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Other - Education
Ok, to make you understand what exactly caused the Titanic to sink you have to understand what exactly keeps a 100,000+ton piece of steel afloat!
A ship is made up of compartments, basically rooms. These rooms are seperated by air and water tight doors. The air tight doors are designed to keep the air locked in the compartment. When the doors are left open or the seals have gone bad water is allowed to fill the space.
Try this little experiment: take an empty cup turn it upside down and push it straight down into water... difficult right? That is because there is no air allowed to escape. Now, tilt the cup to 45 degrees and see what happens... a ton easier right... thats what happens when the air pocket is allowed to escape and fill with water... same goes for a ship and its air tight compartments.
When too many compartments are allowed to fill up with water the ship can no longer float.
2006-10-09 13:41:12 · answer #1 · answered by wizardslizards 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the north Atlantic there are huge chunks of ice that have broken loose from the glacier, they're called icebergs. Usually only about 20% of the iceberg can be seen above the water line. The Titanic was scraped along the side of the ship by an iceberg and it tore open the side of the ship. The hole was too big to close off the water tight compartments and the whole ship began to fill up with water. It began to sink and eventually broke in half. 1500 people died as a result.
2006-10-09 13:33:47 · answer #2 · answered by RockwallCat 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
An iceberg is a small migrating land mass that is caused by cold weather, and is formed by ice.
The Titanic's starboard side actually scraped the side of the iceberg. The walls, steel though they were, couldn't withstand it, weakened, and eventually, the ship filled with water. The water was too much weight for the ship to bear, so it snapped in two and sunk.
As a result, there were 700 survivors...and 1500 deaths. There were less than half of the lifeboats needed to rescue the passengers. First-class passengers and ladies and children were the first to board the lifeboats; followed by a few gentlemen or second-class passengers.
A high official of the White Star Line actually escaped and boarded the boat...it saved his life, and caused him much scorn for the rest of his life.
2006-10-09 13:35:54 · answer #3 · answered by : ) 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
In Artic and Antartic oceans the temperature is quite low -below 0 degree Celcious.Water has maxmimum density at 4 degree Celc. At 0 deg.C.when water is converted to ice its density is lower than that of water and large Ice mountains float on water.In summer they break into huge blocks(of mount sizes) called "Icebergs"and start movig away in the oceans.20 % is above water and 80% below water.Titanic ship hits such an ice berg below the water and through a huge hole made in the hull water gushes in and the ship sinks
2006-10-09 14:07:15 · answer #4 · answered by ssrvj 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ice bergs are caused when large chunks of ice fall off the ice shelf in the Arctic. They flow with the oceans current, which usually is also the shipping lanes for very large ships. The Titanic was actually in one of those shipping lanes when it struck that ice berg. It put a long gash down her hull, which is what caused her to sink. Two thirds of any ice berg is hidden under water, making it difficult to judge its size. These days they have tracking systems in place, and surveillance planes to keep track of their movement. Which is sent out to every ship that could come anywhere near it.
2006-10-09 14:05:15 · answer #5 · answered by knownothing 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
An iceberg is just a huge piece of ice in the ocean. What happened with titanic is that it rubbed up against one and it ripped a hole in the side. When this happened, the water flowing in could not be stopped and it eventually sank the ship.
2006-10-09 13:36:07 · answer #6 · answered by nighthawk_842003 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
It's a huge clump of ice and slammed into it and due to flawed rivets blew apart flooding compartments causing the ship to buckle and snapping in 2.
2006-10-09 13:36:55 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
hold
it is wen a ice a ice come together and builds up in the water
http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/corps/images/big/corp1417.jpg
wwen da titanic hit it went down
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/91/Iceberg_and_titanic.png/300px-Iceberg_and_titanic.png
2006-10-09 13:29:28 · answer #8 · answered by ;p 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋