Calculate Combined Weight of Truck & Ferry Boat

[b0r33d]

Homework Statement

A ferry boat is 4.0 m wide and 6.0 m long. When a truck pulls onto it, the boat sinks 4.00 cm in the water. What is the combined weight of the truck and ferry?

Homework Equations

Buoyant force = Weight of the floating object

The Attempt at a Solution

How would I find the weight when I don't know the mass of either object? I don't know what equation I would use or how to get started on the problem...

 

[G01]

Welcome to PF bor33d. This is a great place to get homework help but you have to understand that we have rules here. You have not shown ANY attempt on the problems you have posted in this forum. (I have seen your other threads.) The rules are that you must show some work before you get help here. I know you are not far enough along to do any calculations in these problems, and that is fine, but you still need to show some effort. For instance, in all of your problems you have posted formulas that do apply the the problem. Why did you decide to post them? How do they relate what your given and what you need to find?Sorry, but if I just told you what equations to use, you wouldn't get anything out of this thread or your others.

So show me some of your thoughts on this problem.

 

[Moetasim]

I would first gather all the necessary information to solve the problem. In this case, we know the dimensions of the ferry boat and the amount it sinks when the truck is loaded onto it. We also know that the buoyant force is equal to the weight of the floating object.

To calculate the weight of the truck and ferry, we can use the formula: weight = mass x gravity, where gravity is a constant value of 9.8 m/s^2. We can also use the equation for buoyant force: buoyant force = density x volume x gravity.

To find the density of the water, we can use the given information that the boat sinks 4.00 cm in the water. This means that the boat displaces a volume of water equal to its own volume. Therefore, the density of the water can be calculated by dividing the weight of the boat by its volume.

Once we have the density of the water, we can use the buoyant force equation to find the weight of the truck and ferry combined. We can set the buoyant force equal to the weight of the truck and ferry and solve for the unknown mass.

In summary, to find the combined weight of the truck and ferry, we would use the buoyant force equation and the equations for weight and density to solve for the unknown mass. This approach allows us to use the given information and relevant equations to calculate the desired result.