Homework Help: physics

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, August 23, 2010 at 2:20pm.

How is it that ships made largely of steel can float when the density of steel is much higher than the density of water? Why is it possible to make oil tankers much larger than other ships?

physics - bobpursley, Monday, August 23, 2010 at 3:11pm
it is not the density of steel one has to worry about, it is the overall density of the ship, which contains mostly air, wrapped in a steel hull.

Oil is bouyant, it is less dense than seawater, so it floats already.

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