Principle of Flotation: The Reason Why Tiny Stones Sink Deep in the Water and Big Metal Ships Don't.

It is quite easy to understand that light things like wood float in the water. Although there are actually some heavy types of woods that sink and some airy kinds of rock which float on water; though you rarely come across them. The big issue that confuses the most is why metal ships weighing thousands of tons float on the water and tiny stones sink deep into the water. Today I am sharing with you an articles that will explain this phenomenon. Is doing so worth it? Yes, by all means. Or should we rather stand in awe of this scientific breakthrough?

Principle of Flotation.


This question can only be answered using the Archimedes principle which is sometimes referred to as the principle of floatation. Archimedes principle states: When a body is totally or partially immersed in a fluid(liquid or gas), the up thrust (upward force) on it is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced.




The ship normally can only float so long on the water because it is filled with air. So if you measure the amount of space that the ship takes up, including the air inside it, and then work out the weight of water that would take up the same amount of space, that amount of water could also weigh thousands of tons, and for sure it would actually weigh many thousands of tons more than the ship.


So it turns out that even though the ship is extremely heavy, it is much lighter than the water it is sitting on. For a better illustration about the principle of flotation, think about this: A woman walking on a soft ground with a pointed shoes and an elephant who is more likely to sink?



Elephants can Walk on a Soft Ground without Sinking than a Woman Wearing a Pointed Shoe.

Think of an elephant that has feet of wide area. When it walks, it's heavy weight is therefore spread over a wide area and so the pressure (force per unit area) it exerts on the ground is a moderate value. This helps elephants to walk over soft ground without sinking much in the ground.



The woman that is not as heavy as the elephants though, would be in danger when she walks on the soft ground with her pointed shoes. This is because her feet has a small surface area. When she walks on the soft ground her small weight will be spread over small area of the land… hence she may sink.



On the other hand, if a heavy load is carried by thin string on your hand, the weight of the load is spread over the small area of the string in contact with your hand. So a large force per unit area (pressure) is produced on the flesh. This have some painful effect after carrying the load for a long time.



Pressure

So why big ship can float on water and tiny stones sink deep in the water can at least at this level be understood that is due to pressure. Ship float because the air inside them makes it lighter than the water it is sitting on. The pressure gets stronger as you go deeper underwater, and it gets weaker as you come back up.


Pressure also is strongest at the foot of the mountain and weakens as you climb up the mountain, and if you could climb all the way up into space, the pressure would be so low that there will be no pressure at all!



Understanding Archimedes Principle.

Tiny stones sinks in the water because the area that is in contact with water is smaller when compared to the weight of the stone; so the stone though small will sink into the water.



Big ships floats on the water because the area that is in contact with water is very large. So the heavy weight of the ship is spread on the large surface of the water. Big ships though heavy is light when compared to the weight of the water it is sitting on.



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