Solved cryptogram
A steel ship floats because of the shape of the hole it makes in the water, not the steel.
Physics Facts, sourced to NOAA.
Solve it yourself
This fact is a cryptogram here: 70 letters over 18 different ones, graded medium.
Or go to the puzzle’s own page first.
What it means
Archimedes worked this out: an object is pushed up by the weight of the fluid it shoves aside. A solid steel block shoves aside very little and sinks. Roll the same steel into a hull with air inside and it displaces an enormous volume of water, and the upward push matches the ship's weight long before the hull is under. Loading cargo makes it sit lower until the two balance again, which is what a load line on the side is measuring.
The claim comes from NOAA.
- SourceNOAA
- CollectionPhysics Facts
- Difficultymedium
- Length70 letters, 18 of them different
Nearby in the collection
The facts either side of this one.
- HyperPhysics, Georgia State Universitymedium, 76 letters
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- NASA Scientific Visualization Studiomedium, 68 letters
- NASA Glenn Research Centermedium, 69 letters
About as hard as this one
Scored closest to it by the model behind our guide to solving cryptograms.
- NASA Glenn Research Centermedium, 66 letters
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- NISTmedium, 76 letters
- NISTmedium, 71 letters