
Originally Posted by
Oakman
I read somewhere a while back (can not for the life of me find the correct book to foind the answer) that if the QEII or a similar large ship was berthed at a wharf and not tied up and it was a perfectly still day, you could push it out with one finger.
Now, I stupidly brought this up in a discussion and now have to prove I am right. Anybody?
Not entirely true.
There's a lot of factors involved. Mainly, the water being displaced by the vessel.
In order to move the ship, you have to move the water out of the way (displacement). The ship's curved hull makes this easier, but you still will require a considerable amount of force to move the vessel.
Chances are, you'd never find a perfectly sterile environment to try this, except may in a lab. So there's always other actions playing against you. Wind, currents, wave action, hull shape and depth, etc.
Of course, the other side of the coin is that your pressing your finger on the bow of the ship does apply some minuscule amount of force on the ship. Although your force is likely too small to make any difference against the much larger forces at play, you could in fact be moving the ship. You might only be moving a few milliliters of water at a time, but eventually, over maybe 30 years, you might get it to move a foot or so.
