Page 3: Boats and Impulse                                          Home    Page 1    Page 2    Page 4

(Photo URL: www.thehulltruth.com)

Have you ever taken a boat ride on a rough day?  Was it a smooth ride or were you constantly being bumped around?  The answer is partly due to the design of the boat and how it deals with impulse.
Sometimes, on a day when there are large waves, a boat may actually go airborne off of the water.  However what goes up must come down (due to gravity) which means the boat will eventually hit the water again.  When the boat regains contact with the water, the momentum of the boat is influenced by the impulse of the boat hitting the water.  However the design of the boat hull affects the impulse.

Cut sections of different kinds of boat hulls.
(Photo URL: www.minisimmonssurfboards.com)

If a boat is made with a very flat bottom, it will have a very sharp impulse when it hits the water.  If a boat has a v-bottom then the impulse will not be nearly as sharp
("Impulse", Physics Classroom).  In a way, this idea is the same one used by car manufacturers when they design "crumple points" into a car frame.  The objective of making a boat with a steep hull is to make the impulse more bearable and give the user a more enjoyable ride.
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