Oscar De La Huerte answered
The diving and surfacing of the submarine has to do with something called the 'buoyancy' of water. Buoyancy is a force exerted upwards when a body of mass (like a boat or submarine) is immersed in water.
How submarines work
The Archimedes' Principle is a scientific theory that explains the phenomenon of buoyancy.
It states that the force of buoyancy is equal to the weight of water that is displaced by the foreign object.
If this force is equal to the weight of the object, then it will become weightless and float in the water. But if it is less than the weight of the object then it will sink in the water. This is the basis of the principle of how the submarine works.
Buoyancy tanks and submarines
Submarines are built with something called 'buoyancy tanks', which are essentially pockets inside the submarine which can be filled with adjustable amounts of air or water. These pockets wrap around the body of the submarine, and act to either float the submarine to the surface, or sink it towards the bottom.
How submarines work
The Archimedes' Principle is a scientific theory that explains the phenomenon of buoyancy.
It states that the force of buoyancy is equal to the weight of water that is displaced by the foreign object.
If this force is equal to the weight of the object, then it will become weightless and float in the water. But if it is less than the weight of the object then it will sink in the water. This is the basis of the principle of how the submarine works.
Buoyancy tanks and submarines
Submarines are built with something called 'buoyancy tanks', which are essentially pockets inside the submarine which can be filled with adjustable amounts of air or water. These pockets wrap around the body of the submarine, and act to either float the submarine to the surface, or sink it towards the bottom.
- A submarine at the bottom can be made to float by pumping compressed air into the tanks, causing the sea water to come out. This increases the buoyancy of the submarine.
- If a submarine needed to return to the bottom, water would be pumped back in to the tanks, weighing down the submarine and therefore reducing its buoyancy.
