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From: gjk@talcott.UUCP (Greg J Kuperberg)
Newsgroups: net.physics
Subject: Re: Floating a battleship in a gallon of water
Message-ID: <180@talcott.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 10-Dec-84 13:36:02 EST
Article-I.D.: talcott.180
Posted: Mon Dec 10 13:36:02 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 12-Dec-84 04:18:45 EST
References: <27@daisy.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: Harvard
Lines: 29

> 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.
...
> 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-

Leverage.  By the same principle, the following system can be in
equilibrium:


			--------------------
			|   /\             |
			|   ||             |
		Big weight  Fulcrum       Little weight

Note that in the case of the toy ship in the sink, shoving the ship down
one centimeter causes the water level to move up several centimeters, so
that the whole thing works like a lever.
---
			Greg Kuperberg
		     harvard!talcott!gjk

"Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system
of government."  -Monty Python