this post was submitted on 23 May 2025
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[–] [email protected] 17 points 16 hours ago (4 children)

Well... When you put one of those huge tankers in the water, it will move a LOT of water out of the way.

As long as the tanker weights less than the weight of all that water it displaced, it will float.

As you keep loading up the tanker with more cargo, it will go deeper into the water right? But this means that it is pushing more water out of the way (the water that used to be where the boat now is), which balances out the weight because that creates more buoyancy.

A rock, on the other hand, is heavier than the water that it displaces, so it sinks like a tanker whose front fell off.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (2 children)

Since we are pedantic, what you say isn't true.

The tanker weights exactly as much as the weight of the water that it displaces. They are in balance. You describe it yourself. The tanker sinks deeper if it becomes heavier and swims more up as it becomes lighter.

The measure of "boat swims" is not the weight of the displaced water. It is wether there is some boat wall left sticking out of the water to keep more water from entering and displacing the air that keeps the submerged volume in weight balance with the water.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 hours ago

Since we're being extra pedantic, what I said was:

As long as the tanker weights less than the weight of all that water it displaced, it will float.

This is factually true, and you didn't disprove it.

As for "boat wall sticking out of the water", that's just grasping at straws man. If that boat is fully waterproof, like a submarine, the definition holds up. Or if you consider that water entering the boat adds to the boat weight, then again it will hold true as it will weigh more than the water it displaces.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

So we have rising sea levels because there's so many big ships in the ocean, got it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 hours ago

And fish poops

[–] [email protected] 14 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

As long as the tanker weights less than the weight of all that water it displaced, it will float.

But steel is heavier than water

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 hours ago

Ah, but boats aren't solid steel! It has lots of hollow spaces inside, making the volume up displaced water bigger, without increasing the weight!

[–] [email protected] 26 points 15 hours ago (3 children)

If you take 1kg of steel and 1kg of water, which is heavier? That's right, steel is heavier.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

A steelogram of kilo is feather than heaviers

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago

Now this guy knows what he's talking about

[–] [email protected] 9 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

If she weighs more than a duck, then she’s made of wood.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

And therefore?

... A WITCH!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 hours ago

We shall use the larger scales!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Metal is heavier than water. Virtually every containber is fille to the brim with products, now I don't know you but most everything we buy is heavier than water.

It's clear they have some kind of extra propulsion in those, most likely magnetic anti gravitation.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 15 hours ago

The bane of shipping is that a lot of money goes to shipping air around :)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 15 hours ago

Nah, man...it's magic! Magic is the only explanation.