I'm not usually an idiot, but I'm trying to wrap my head around this: I have an aluminum boat. There are blocks of foam in the spaces between the hull and the floor decking. I get the Archimedes' principle of water displacement, etc, but if the flotation material does not come in contact with the water, at what point does it matter what that below-deck material is made of? The blocks/noodles/poured-in foam/whatever has some weight. It doesn't exert upward force, like a helium-filled balloon. So where does the actual material come into play for flotation? What happens if I pack the same space with an equal weight of books, or golf balls or Raisin Bran? The boat in the water weighs the same. Why does it float differently if that space is packed with 20 pounds of Styrofoam or 20 pounds of bicycle tires? The same amount of aluminum hull is touching the water. Who cares what is ABOVE that part?
Does the enclosed space have something to do with it? Like, if I had a simple aluminum jon boat, would it be more buoyant if I glued foam blocks to the floor inside? How do the rules of physics know that I attached 10 pounds of foam to the floor, instead of ten pounds of shoes?
Oh, my head. Can someone make this clear for me?
Does the enclosed space have something to do with it? Like, if I had a simple aluminum jon boat, would it be more buoyant if I glued foam blocks to the floor inside? How do the rules of physics know that I attached 10 pounds of foam to the floor, instead of ten pounds of shoes?
Oh, my head. Can someone make this clear for me?