I know nothing about ships but I see videos of big ships getting hit by massive waves and the boats’ proportions seem to me like the boat should fall right over.
In: 5
Ballast. Ballast is dense material in the very bottom of the ship that keeps things pointing the right way. Solid ballast like rocks used to be popular, but liquid ballast like water is more popular nowadays.
They’re designed to stay afloat.
The hull (the big bottom bit) is very carefully balanced to ensure the ship usually stays upright.
The bottom part of the ship has “ballast” in it (water tanks, cargo, etc.) that makes it a lot heavier than the top part. Same basic principle as loaded dice.
You could probably turn most ships completely upsidedown and they would flip back over, like one of those egg-shaped [self-righting children’s toys](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hxUZgdL_GU).
Short answer: physics.
Long answer: physics but with details. Ships are designed so that their center of gravity is as low as possible. The closer the center of gravity to the center of buoyancy the more energy it takes capsize the ship.
I may be missing something but no one seems to have mentioned the word keel. Most seagoing boats have a weighted keel along part of the bottom that provides both resistance to sideways movement in the water and acts as a weighted counter balance to keep the ship upright.
I know nothing about ships but I see videos of big ships getting hit by massive waves and the boats’ proportions seem to me like the boat should fall right over.
In: 5
Ballast. Ballast is dense material in the very bottom of the ship that keeps things pointing the right way. Solid ballast like rocks used to be popular, but liquid ballast like water is more popular nowadays.
They’re designed to stay afloat.
The hull (the big bottom bit) is very carefully balanced to ensure the ship usually stays upright.
The bottom part of the ship has “ballast” in it (water tanks, cargo, etc.) that makes it a lot heavier than the top part. Same basic principle as loaded dice.
You could probably turn most ships completely upsidedown and they would flip back over, like one of those egg-shaped [self-righting children’s toys](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hxUZgdL_GU).
Short answer: physics.
Long answer: physics but with details. Ships are designed so that their center of gravity is as low as possible. The closer the center of gravity to the center of buoyancy the more energy it takes capsize the ship.
I may be missing something but no one seems to have mentioned the word keel. Most seagoing boats have a weighted keel along part of the bottom that provides both resistance to sideways movement in the water and acts as a weighted counter balance to keep the ship upright.
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