The
Physics of Sailing Web Project by Ben Renshaw, PHYS-104 |
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Home The Sail Boat
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In order for any object to float in water it needs
to displace enough water to equal its own weight.
Therefore, maximum weight capacities of boats can
be calculated by determining their volume and
multiplying it by the weight of water that it will
displace.
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Here is a practical, real life example of what the buoyancy force can tell us. The markings on the above hull of a cargo ship can be used to determine how much weight the ship has taken on. Each marking is associated with the total volume of water displaced by the boat. Since weight=m*g we can solve for the mass of the cargo.
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