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Ships: fun facts and quiz
The essentials in 7 ideas, with fun facts, an illustrated story and a quiz to see how much you know.
The essentials
Why Ships Float
A steel ship floats because its hull pushes aside a lot of water. If the water it displaces weighs more than the ship, it floats: that’s Archimedes’ principle.
Key fact
Archimedes worked this out over 2,200 years ago.
The Age of Sail
For centuries, sailing ships carried explorers and trade across oceans, riding reliable winds like the trade winds.
Key fact
Clipper ships of the 1850s were among the fastest sailing ships ever.
The Titanic
RMS Titanic sank on its first voyage, in April 1912, after hitting an iceberg. It carried lifeboats for only about half the people on board.
Key fact
The disaster led to rules requiring lifeboats for everyone.
Giant Cargo Ships
The biggest container ships are about 400 m long, longer than the Eiffel Tower is tall, and carry over 20,000 containers.
Key fact
A big container ship’s crew is often just 20 to 25 people.
Steam Power
Steam engines freed ships from the wind. From 1838, steamships made regular Atlantic crossings, cutting the journey to about two weeks.
Key fact
Isambard Kingdom Brunel designed some of the largest early steamships.
Submarines
Submarines dive by filling tanks with water, and surface by blowing the water out with air. Nuclear submarines can stay underwater for months.
Key fact
Their time underwater is limited mainly by food supplies.
Canals
Canals are shortcuts for ships. The Suez Canal (1869) links the Mediterranean and the Red Sea; the Panama Canal (1914) links the Atlantic and Pacific.
Key fact
Locks on the Panama Canal lift ships about 26 metres.
Fun facts
Ships have even been built of concrete, in both World Wars. Some still float today as breakwaters.
Near the equator lie the doldrums, where sailing ships could sit becalmed for weeks with no wind at all.
The Titanic’s wreck was only found in 1985, about 3.8 km down in the North Atlantic.
In 1992, a container lost in the Pacific spilled about 29,000 bath toys, which washed up on beaches for years.
Brunel’s giant Great Eastern later laid the first lasting telegraph cable across the Atlantic, in 1866.
The first submarine to sink an enemy ship, the H. L. Hunley in 1864, sank itself soon after.
In 2021, the giant ship Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal for six days.
Story: Eureka!
Eureka!
Ancient Syracuse. King Hiero suspects his new gold crown has been mixed with cheaper silver, and asks Archimedes to check.
Stepping into a full bath, Archimedes watches the water spill over and realises water can measure the crown’s volume.
Legend says he ran home shouting “Eureka!”, “I’ve found it!”. True or not, the principle he found explains why ships float.
True or false?
Tap your answer to see if you got it, and why.
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Question 1 of 10
Ships float by displacing water.
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True. The water pushes back up.
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Question 2 of 10
Sailing ships relied on winds like the trade winds.
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True. Steady winds that blow across the tropics.
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Question 3 of 10
The Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg.
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True. On its first voyage.
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Question 4 of 10
The biggest container ships are about 400 m long.
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True. About as long as four football pitches.
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Question 5 of 10
Steamships no longer depended on the wind.
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True. Engines drove paddles, then propellers.
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Question 6 of 10
Submarines dive by filling tanks with water.
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True. They’re called ballast tanks.
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Question 7 of 10
The Panama Canal links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
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True. Saving ships a long trip around South America.
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Question 8 of 10
Steel ships float because steel is lighter than water.
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False. Steel is heavier; the hull’s shape does the trick.
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Question 9 of 10
Sailing ships used engines to cross oceans.
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False. They used the wind.
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Question 10 of 10
The Titanic had lifeboats for everyone on board.
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False. Only for about half.
Keep going in the app
KnowSoda learns what you know and brings back what you’re about to forget. Ships has 6 more ideas at the Advanced and Expert levels.
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Archimedes’ principle, ship, submarine
- Royal Museums Greenwich — Titanic and the history of ships
- Panama Canal Authority — How the canal works
- SS Great Britain Trust — Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s ships
- Suez Canal Authority — Canal history
- UNCTAD — Review of Maritime Transport
- Vasa Museum — The ship
- European Space Agency — Ship-sinking monster waves revealed by satellites
- International Maritime Organization — Fourth GHG Study
