From the simplest of rafts to the most complex ocean liners, all boats share a common function, which is to transport people or other goods and materials safely from one point to another on some body of water. It may be across an ocean, lake, or down a river, depending upon the particular destination. Boats may be powered by man, wind, a mechanical power source, or just drift with the currents and tides.
There are many engineering and scientific principles involved with boats, but perhaps the most basic one is the principle of buoyancy. As the story goes, Archimedes, a Greek mathematician, was taking a bath. When he stepped into the bath, he noticed that the water spilled over as he immersed himself. He recognized that he had displaced a volume of water, which turned out to be equal to the volume of his body. From this start, the Archimedes Principle was developed.
Simply stated, the principle declares that “a body immersed or floating in water is pushed up with a force equal to the weight of the water displaced.” This principle explains why some objects float, while others sink. An immersed object weighs less in water than in air by an amount equal to the weight of the water displaced by the object. If this water weighs as much as or more than the object, the object floats. If the displaced water weighs less than the object, the object sinks.
Beth Mutch, United States Naval Academy SeaPerch Program
This resource is a part of the Engineering & Robotics lesson series.
This resource is a part of the Engineering & Robotics lesson series.
This resource is a part of the Engineering & Robotics lesson series.
