• Question: how does a boat not sink if its so big and massive

    Asked by arms520trot to Sam P, Ruth, Rachel E, Edward, Ebrahim S, charlesmichie on 14 Mar 2025.
    • Photo: Rachel Edwards

      Rachel Edwards answered on 14 Mar 2025:

      It’s all about density, and the boat’s shape, and what the water is doing.
      Lots of boats are made of metal, which is denser than water – so should sink. If you put a coin into a glass of water, it sinks.
      But the boat isn’t all metal – actually a lot of it is air, because a boat is shaped a bit like a bowl so a lot of its volume is actually really light. The boat is always pushing down on the water and has to move water out of the way – which means the water has to go upwards. If the boat as a whole, including all the air, is lighter than the amount of water that it would have to push out of the way to sink, then it will float.

Comments