I’ve always wondered and never understood how buoyancy works, especially with huge metal ships that I think should surely sink.
In: Physics
its all about water pressure essentially.
as you move water out of the way, that same weight of water is going to push upwards on you.
so think of an air filled ball. As you push it further and further into the water, that ball is moving more and more water out of the way.
All that water that is moved away is pushing upwards on the ball because the ball is in the way and gravity is pulling all that water down.
Remember that large metal ships are mostly hollow. all that water they push out of the way is pushing upwards on the boat.
so while a piece of metal on its own will sink, a large metal ball will float because it displaces water.
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