How does buoyancy work?

Question

I’ve always wondered and never understood how buoyancy works, especially with huge metal ships that I think should surely sink.

In: Physics

Answer 1

There’s some good answers here, but I would say the ELI5 version is that metal ships are made of metal & air. Metal on its own will sink, and air on its own will float, but a metal shell around air will float if there’s enough air. That’s why ships and boats will sink if they take on too much water.