Why Do Cruise Ships Float

Ever wonder why something as heavy as a cruise ship could float above the water.

Why do cruise ships float. So if the force exerted downward on the object by gravity is less than the buoyant force the object will float. If it is less dense than water it will float. A ring might be small but its more dense than the same sized space of water.

There are three basic concepts that explain how and why a ship can float. The weight of the ship pulling down red arrow and the upthrust pushing up blue arrow are equal and opposite forces so the ship floats. An object floats when the buoyant force is large enough to counter the objects weight.

Gravity exerts a downward force on the object its weight which is determined by the objects mass. This is that force that makes the ship to float but stone or needle to sink. There are hundreds of ships moving hundreds of thousands of guests and crew from port to port every single day.

Ships float because they displace enough water for the buoyancy force to be greater than the force of gravity acting on the ship. It sinks down further displacing more water bigger shaded area. One of the most basic rules is that an object will sink if it weighs more than the same volume of water.

A cruise ship has a very large base giving the water it sits on ample space to push against. The force which pushes the ship up is called the buoyancy force. The displaced water attempts to return to its original position now occupied by the ship which pushes the ship up.

A small solid object might not float however. Similar to the container with cotton balls most of the space within a ship is hollow and full of air or empty space. So a large hollow object might float because large means more water displaced so more buoyant force and hollow means relatively little weight.