2. Why ship float on water?
• The air that is inside a ship is much less dense than water.
That’s what keeps it floating! The average density of the
total volume of the ship and everything inside of it (including
the air) must be less than the same volume of water. As a
ship is set in water, it pushes down and displaces an amount
of water equal to its weight. The closer the total density of
the ship is to the density of the same volume of water, the
greater the amount of the ship that will be in the water. If the
average density of the ship is ever greater than the density
of water, then the ship will sink beneath the surface of the
water.
4. Titanic
• One of the most famous disasters is the sinking of the
RMS Titanic. The ship struck an iceberg off the south
coast of Newfoundland in April of 1912. The iceberg tore
open several small holes in the hull of the ship, letting
water into the bow. As more water entered the ship, the
air was forced out. This caused the ship to sink to the
bottom of the ocean.
