There are many things that we take for granted but we do not know how to explain them. When young children ask their typical questions about the world, they can expose us. Could you explain to them why planes fly? Or why the sky looks blue? Could you tell them why boats float?
In this post we are going to answer the last one: Why do boats float? For this we will have to talk about the mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse, one of the most famous in history. In addition, we will talk a little about the history of the ships. So if you are interested in the subject, I recommend that you continue reading.
The legend of Archimedes of Syracuse
Today there are transport ships and transoceanic cruises capable of taking on board more people than those who live in some small cities. Why do ships float even with so much weight? Why don't they sink even though they carry tons of merchandise and raw materials? The answer to these questions was discovered thousands of years ago thanks to Archimedes' Principle.
This world famous mathematician lived in the XNUMXnd century BC. C. At that time, the king of Syracuse was Hiero II. He ordered that a crown be made for him with a few pieces of gold. A court craftsman made it and gave it to the king. However, Hiero II suspected that that craftsman had not used all the gold pieces to make that magnificent crown. For this reason he turned to Archimedes, for him to prove his suspicions.
According to legend, the mathematician got stuck when solving this problem. But one day, while taking a bath, he realized something very curious and obvious at the same time: when he got into the water, the level of it rose in the bathtub. It was an observation that he pondered for a while, until he came to the conclusion that the displacement of the water was equal to the volume of the body or object that was submerged. This discovery helped him to solve the task that the king had entrusted to him. Knowing the mass of gold that had been delivered to the craftsman and the volume of water that had been displaced, the mathematician was able to calculate the density of the crown.
Why do ships float according to Archimedes?
This story is very interesting, yes, but it doesn't explain why ships float. As you can surely imagine, Archimedes continued to think about the matter until he discovered a new piece of information that was quite a revolution: All the elements that are submerged in water simultaneously went through an upward push. This vertical thrust corresponds to the weight of the fluid being displaced. This discovery is what is known as the Archimedes Principle. In addition, it is the reason why boats are able to float on water.
Let's explain it another way: All elements that are denser than water should sink. Oil, for example, being less dense, remains floating on the surface. But the materials that ships are made of are denser than water. So why do boats float? Although the materials are denser, the total density of the ship is less than that of the water. To calculate it we must divide the total mass of the ship by its volume. As a result, the volume of a boat's upward push is greater than the weight that pushes it down, causing it to float on the surface of the water.
history of the ships
Now that we know why boats float, let's see a little about the origin of these means of maritime transport. They have been around since ancient times. The first types of boats were made from tree trunks and were in use as early as 10.000 years ago. They were similar to canoes or rafts and, to move with them, they used very long rods that touched the ground at the bottom of the water. Thanks to this invention, people who used them could cross shallow lakes and rivers. These logs were the forerunners of ships.
It was probably the ancient civilizations that were near the coasts that invented the first ships as such. These cultures became sedentary to take advantage of the resources they could obtain from the sea, such as food. They were probably the first to carve wooden boats. When moving, they had to do it with the help of oars. These were the main propulsion mechanism for several centuries. Therefore, the people who were to use them had to be very strong. In many civilizations, those who had to carry out this task were the slaves.
At the nautical level, the incorporation of the wind as a method of propulsion was a great advance. Large canvases were developed that were attached to the mast, known as sails. Thanks to them, the sailors could take advantage of the impulse of the wind in a very simple way, but obviously it was not something constant. When the compass was invented, there was no longer such a problem in navigating the great seas and oceans of our world. At that time, different boat types large that were used for commercial purposes, such as galleons, or for military purposes, such as frigates. In the XIX century, Steamboats have already come into play.
When it was invented the combustion engine During the industrial revolution, the boating landscape changed radically. Suddenly they were much faster and also more comfortable, giving rise to an important diversity of boats. There are many different types of ships both for the maritime transport of goods and for tourist purposes, such as cruises, and for war purposes. The latter have been developing new technologies to be able to manufacture submarines, for example, and ships with nuclear energy capacity.
I hope it is clear to you why ships float and how they have evolved throughout history.