Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I have a science project and my question: How do ships float in the water with out sinking in the water and is the shape of the hull important? Connor

Hi cshel24,

Ships float as a result of Archimedes' Principle. Archimedes' Principle states that the buoyant force acting on any object in a fluid is equivalent to the mass of the fluid displaced. In the case of boats, the volume of the underwater portion of the boat is the volume of water that is displaced. The mass of the displaced water is equivalent to the mass of the boat, so the force of gravity on the boat and the buoyant force cancel. The shape of the hull is not to help a boat float, but rather to streamline (minimize fluid friction) the boat and help with steering.

Tell us more about this project of yours! Do you have any ideas about your setup? This idea has very good potential.

Hope this helps,
IlI

Hi cshel24,

Going along with what III said, ships do float as a result of Archimedes' principle. If you were interested in learning more about this principle, Science Buddies actually has a project related to it and how boats float. Here is the link, I hope this helps!

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... at#summary

Feel free to reach out with any more questions,
Lili