Eli5 how do cargo ships not tip over? Aren’t they super top heavy?
In: 195
They are not as top heavy as you might think. You are absolutely correct that the higher the centre of gravity is on the ship, the closer that ship becomes to unstable. If a ship is unstable in a storm or something, the procedure is to find a way to make the ship heavier at the bottom or lighter at the top.
However, most ships have a low enough centre of gravity, but it may not look like it. When you see a ship floating on the water, remember there is a good chance that more of the ship is underwater than above water. Ships might have a draft of several meters. *If* the ship was barely on the water, the part of the ship you see would probably raise the centre of gravity too high. However, since ships are maybe 10 metres underwater, their centre of gravity if much lower.
Also, and this depends on the cargo, but the weight of the cargo is oftentimes lower than higher. If carrying denser cargo, ships will not fill their cargo holds; the weight of their cargo will put the ship at its maximum draft without taking up much room. This means that if you look at the whole cargo hold, the centre of gravity is not at the centre of the cargo hold, but closer to the centre of the cargo near the bottom. This lowers the centre to a safe level. Similarly, when a ship is in ballast (no cargo, the ballast tanks are full of water), the larger tanks are often at the very bottom of the ship. Again, this put more weight near to keel of the ship, lowering the centre of gravity.
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