icebergs

Titanic in the Classroom

Icebergs

Thanks to Alex Gabrielli and Mrs. Moffitt for explaining our science activities.

This is a scanned copy of the photographic print of the iceberg with which the RMS TITANIC supposedly collided on April 14, 1912 at latitude 41-46N, longitude 50-14W.

This iceberg was photographed by the chief steward of the liner Prinze Adelbert on the morning of April 15, 1912, just a few miles south of where the Titanic went down. The steward hadn't yet heard about the Titanic. What caught his attention was the smear of red paint along the base of the berg, indication that it had collided with a ship sometime in the previous twelve hours. This photo and informaiton was taken from "UNSINKABLE" The Full Story of RMS Titanic Written by Daniel Allen Butler, Stackpole Books 1998. Other accounts indicated that there were several icebergs in the vicinity where the TITANIC collided. http://www.uscg.mil/lantarea/iip/faq/titanic_1.shtml

Our next series of experiments revolved around what actually sank the Titanic…the iceberg! Mrs. Moffitt froze a balloonful of water, and placed our ‘berg’ in a fish tank for us to observe. We calculated its area and found that only about 8% of an iceberg is visible above water! Apparently, when the captain saw the surface of the iceberg, they were really just seeing the ‘tip of the iceberg.’ Below the tip, the iceberg was much larger and wider. Even though the Titanic missed the tip, it was the unseen part of the iceberg that did the most damage as it created holes in the bulkheads. Although many people believed that the Titanic sank with a huge gash in its bulkheads, if this were so, then the Titanic would have sank in minutes. This improbable solution was later corrected to the theory that promoted the idea that many small cracks were occurring in the bulkheads instead of large ones.

Next, we plotted the coordinates of the areas mentioned in ice warnings sent to the Titanic. About six distress signals warning the Titanic about icebergs were sent to the radio operators, and at least two were ignored. All signals were displayed in one general area and overlapped many times, which strongly supports the possibility that all six ships were signaling the same cluster of icebergs. The Titanic had hit the iceberg in the general area of the witness’ accounts. Eventually, the slowly, sinking Titanic floated North with the gashes in its bulkheads. Once the Titanic gradually burned up its remaining fuel, it no longer had the power to go against the current. The Titanic slowly floated back where it finally sank. See images below.

Another factor in the unfortunate decisions made about the voyage was Captain Smith’s many years of experience, which actually worked against him. We looked at data on April iceberg frequency in the North Atlantic from 1900-1912. We made line graphs of this data, and found that the average number of icebergs in April for the 11 years prior to the Titanic was 95, while the number of icebergs in the April of 1912 was 395! Captain Smith must have thought the profuse ice warnings were exaggerations. He also had much at stake in getting the Titanic to port in New York on time.

Anthony, Adam Colton	Simon, Nick, Brooke	Dylan, Kaitlin, Brandon	Elizabeth, Cody, Jessica K.
Doug, Jessie, Gabrielle	Molly, Riley, Clara	Hannah, Mattea	From: Create a Graph
Kathleen, Corbyn	Dylan, Jason	Ben and Alex	Chris, Brian
Haley, PJ, Brendan	Anna, Chloe, Carolina	Quinton, Sam

A ship’s design is also a necessary key to buoyancy. Engineers had to be very precise in order to shape the ship so that it could float with the bulk that it had to carry. The Titanic was a cruise liner, which meant that they had many unnecessary items on board to please the passengers. As a result, the engineers also had to design the ship so that it would distribute its weight evenly, instead of causing the boat to capsize by forcing everything to one side. When the Titanic did begin to sink, the prow of the ship sank to the bottom. The weight of the ship caused it to gradually lean to one side. The Keel was lifted straight up in the air until it finally snapped under the pressure of its own weight. The prow, burdened with most of the original ship’s weight, quickly sank to the bottom. The Keel, filled with oxygen, slowly sank to the bottom.

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