Hydrodynamics and Boat Hull Design

摘要

One of the earliest forms of transportation ever developed was marine transportation. The first boats were probably made of logs either lashed together to form rafts or dug out to form canoes. As technology improved, new boats and forms of power were discovered. The science of mechanics and fluids―how boats move―is called hydrodynamics. This science has made it possible for ships to carry larger cargos and travel farther and faster than ever before. A boat's ability to float is called buoyancy. When a boat is on the water, gravity pulls it down. But water has a force, bouyancy, that pushes up objects less dense than itself. If the bouyancy of water pushing up on the boat exceeds the density of the boat and its load, the boat will float.