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From: dbell@daisy.UUCP (David I. Bell)
Newsgroups: net.physics
Subject: Floating a battleship in a gallon of water
Message-ID: <27@daisy.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 8-Dec-84 00:48:50 EST
Article-I.D.: daisy.27
Posted: Sat Dec  8 00:48:50 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 10-Dec-84 02:44:02 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: Daisy Systems Corp., Mountain View
Lines: 19


                                                |          ||          |
      A COUNTER-INTUITIVE FACT                  |         /||\         |
                                                |  ------------------  |
Something that I have found amusing             |  |                |  |
is the fact that a ship can float in a          \  \                /  /
container of water which only contains           \~~\              /~~/
a VERY small amount of water.                     \~~\    SHIP    /~~/
                                                   \~~\          /~~/
For example, if a container is shaped so            \~~\        /~~/
that it is 1/10 inch away from the ship on           \~~\      /~~/
all sides (and the bottom), then the water            \~~\    /~~/
filling that small gap will hold it up.  =====>        \~~\--/~~/
                                                        \~~~~~~/
The counter-intuitive fact is that the weight of         \~~~~/
the water can be *much* less than the ship's weight.      \--/

How is it that the water can hold up a ship which weighs
more than the water?                                             -dbell-