If wood is lighter than water, why did wooden ships sink?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Previously, all ships were wooden, but this did not help them in a wreck. They safely went into the depths of the sea. Many are still at the bottom, as evidenced by photographs taken by divers in various parts of the world. And if wood is much lighter than water, then why is this happening?

What is the reason for flooding

If a hole was formed in a battle, then slowly all the compartments were filled with water, after which the ship disappeared into the depths of the sea. But the density of popular types of wood used for building ships is much less than water. In addition, before the material was used, it was well dried, which was almost a widow's decrease in performance. According to all the rules, even a ship completely filled with water must remain on the surface. But in life everything is different.

There are two factors that play a decisive role. In the good old days, almost all ships were equipped with a large number of steel weapons with ammunition (cannons, cannon balls for them in stock). The density has become much higher than the density of water - about seven and a half times.

In some cases, other steel structures were present on the ships, which significantly made the ship heavier. This played a role and was one of the reasons for the flooding, moreover, rapid. After all, the density of the ship as a result became more than water.

But the fact that logs and separate boards lie near ships at the bottom of the seas and oceans cannot be explained by this fact. It's simple. Gradually, the tree saturates water in itself, becomes heavy and sinks.

In the old days, no particular attention was paid to this fact. The outer elements of the ship were covered with a special water-repellent coating: wax, grease, and so on.

But in the sea the water is too salty and has its own properties that negatively affect impregnation. The latter quickly disappeared from the wood. At the same time, the cost of processing funds was quite expensive.

As a result, the ships over time were completely saturated with sea water, and the wood turned into a material whose weight is much higher than that of water. The density of the tree could reach 1,100 kilograms per cubic meter.

Due to the fact that the tree is able to be completely saturated with moisture, the logs were gradually no longer floated down the river, as many drowned along the way, having saturated themselves with too much water.