How does a ship stay afloat when it's so heavy?

Question

How can the big Navy ships stay afloat when they weigh thousands of tons?

Is air used to buoy the boat? If so, how can it possibly buoy up the entire weight of the ship!

Answer 1

They have so large a volume that they displace an amount of water that weighs more than the ship. That is what creates the upward force that keeps them on the surface.

Try this - fill a basin with water. Make a little boat by folding up a sheet of aluminum foil. It will float for that displacement reason. Now squash the foil into a ball. It has the same weight but it will sink to the bottom because it is so compact that it is not displacing much water.

Answer 2

What Keeps Ships Afloat

Answer 3

It all comes back to Archimedes' principle which states that the buoyant force experienced by a ship equals the weight of the fluid displaced by the vessel.

You ideally want to displace enough fluid to generate enough upthrust to float the ship, even though there can be quite heavy cargo in the ship.

Answer 4

it all depends on it's density. If the ship (it's weight and density) are less than the water it will float, so it's a matter of spreading how far apart the layers of the ship are, not how heavy it is in total, basically making air pockets in the ship to lower the total density.

Answer 5

this is because of Archimedes principle...that an object if it is immersed in water or any liquid,,a bouyant force is acted on it...which is equal to the weight of the liquid displaced by da liquid displaced by the object,,it is like da weight of the ship is more,but not more then the space it has occupied....

Even wen u see a steel pin,it is so tiny and it actually sinks in water,,bcuz its weight is more den da space it has occupied under it...:)
bEST OF LUCK:)