How do “Moon Pools” work? How can a ship have a big hole in it yet not sink?
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Objects float because they experience a buoyant force equivalent to the weight of the water that they displace. The form of the object is irrelevant, other than the effect that it may have on displacement.
Moon pools aren’t just open holes in the bottom of a ship’s hull. They have sidewalls that extend to some distance above the waterline. A ship with a moon pool may have marginally less increase in buoyant force when the submergence depth is increased than if the moon pool wasn’t there, but it is still capable of displacing a greater weight of water than the weight of the ship before its watertight integrity is compromised.
This is like drilling a hole in a piece of Styrofoam. You still expect it to float, right?
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