How do sunken ships like the titanic not get crushed under the pressure?

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I assume the metal and materials the boats are made of are strong but surely not to withstand the pressure of being 12,000 feet underwater? At the end of the day it’s not like the engineers had to consider holding up to that much pressure in their design right?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Because when they sink, they also flood. There’s water both inside *and* outside, so there’s no pressure differential. The force is equalized.

If pressure was only acting from the outside (like if a sub’s ballast tanks failed and it started sinking uncontrollably beyond its rated depth), it would eventually be crushed… but once the hull buckled and the interior was fully flooded, the pressure inside whatever was left would equalize and it wouldn’t *keep* being crushed.

**Practical demonstration:**

Pick up any flat object, like a board or a piece of paper, put a hand on either side and press your hands together. Not crushing anything, right?

Now pick up an egg and do the same thing (outside, please, and wearing clothes you don’t mind getting egg on). At some point, you exert enough pressure that the egg shell buckles and the whole thing implodes violently.

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