what makes ships float?

Answer 1

I'm afraid Sues is incorrect. The process by which ships float is displacement.

Basically it's like this:

Does the vehicle displace (move/push away) water greater than it's total weight? If so, it floats. If not, it sinks.

Think of this: Take an ounce of foil and make a boat from it. Place it in the water, it floats. Take another ounce of foil and crumple it up tightly into a ball. Place it in water, it sinks.

This is why you can make a functional boat out of just about anything, as long as it displaces more weight of water than the boat itself weighs.

Answer 2

Archimedes' principle of buoyancy.

Normally an object would sink because it is more dense then the water, and the water can't keep it up. Weight is the force that pulls it down. However, this principle notes the observation that there is an upward force on the object, the buoyant force, which is equal to the weight of the volume of water that is displaced by the object. If the object occupies a big enough volume, the weight of the displaced water will result in a greater force upward than the weight pushing downward, keeping the boat afloat.

Answer 3

We answered this question last week.

The total amount of water that they displace (i.e.: push aside) weighs more than the ship itself. The water that is pushed upward by the body of the ship, as it settles down into the water, tries to sink back into its former place because of gravity, but the displaced water cannot because the hull of the ship is in the way. So the water pushes on the ship's hull, producing a net upward force that supports the ship. As long as the ship is less dense overall than an equivalent volume of water, the ship will float.

Answer 4

Any solid oblect that is less dense than water will float.
Although ships are made of steel they have a large volume of enclosed space within them. They also have ballast tanks which are filled with water when the ship has no cargo but are empty when a cargo is taken on these provide the buoyancy to keep the ship afloat.
Ships have to be careful when travelling in waters of different densities (i.e. fresh water and sea water). If a ship loaded a cargo to its full capacity in a sea water port and then sailed to a fresh water port, the ship would sink slightly and therefore be deemed to be overloaded.

Answer 5

When an object is put into the water it displaces a certain amount of water as it sinks deeper. If the weight of the water displaced equals the weight of the object, then the object will stop sinking any further. One dm³ of water (One litre) weighs approximately 1 kg. If an object has a weight of less than 1 kg per dm³, then it will float in water.

Answer 6

the weight of the ship pushes down on the water but the water pushes back (upthrust) so if the ships weight equals the upthrust then the ship floats. if not it sinks. simple as that

Answer 7

gravity and the amount of space inside them

Answer 8

magic

Answer 9

bouyancy