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Why a big steel ship can float while a small piece of steel readily sinks to the bottom of the sea?
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
Because the big steel ship has a density that is less than 1g/cm^3 so it floats, the reason the small piece of steel sinks is because its density is more than 1g/cm^3. Anything that has a density of more than one will sink in water.
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
Wiki User
∙ 8y agoIt's Archimedes principle. An object that floats, displaces it's own weight of the liquid in which it is floating.
Put another way.
If you took that piece of metal, then hammered and rolled it so that it took up more room and more importantly, provided sides, so that it can keep water from covering it. Then it will reach a point where it has displaced it's own weight of water and it will float. The density and weight of your metal is the same, but you have modified it's shape, so that it makes a bigger hole in the water.
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Displaction
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No, it sinks.
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by fluffy stuff
What determines whether an object sinks or float?
density!
