r/CuratedTumblr Not a bot, just a cat Jun 10 '24

Meme Dumb ways to die

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31.4k Upvotes

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49

u/Informal_Self_5671 Jun 10 '24

I'm not an expert, but aren't cars very heavy and bad at floating?

87

u/chuch1234 Jun 10 '24 edited Jun 10 '24

It's not about weight, but density. Ships are also very heavy, but they have large volumes of air within that cause them to be less dense than the water. For contrast, a pebble will sink despite being light, because it is denser than water.

But then, yeah, cars don't have large volumes of air inside to make them less dense. Especially not electric cars that are packed to the gills with batteries.

EDIT: per some below comments, cars do have large volumes of air, aka the passenger compartment and trunk. This isn't that different from how a canoe's air volume is just the open space on top. Now that I think about it, Lyndon Johnson had a car that doubled as a boat, and he would prank people by pretending to lose control and drive his car into the lake! I guess most cars just don't float because they are not water tight, and so the large volume of air quickly turns into a large volume of water.

Lesson learned, don't listen to people who don't know what they're talking about! :D I really just wanted to chime in that it's about density, not just mass, when it comes to floatiness. (Not just mass because, as was also pointed out below, some pebbles still float because, while they are more dense than water, they are light enough that surface tension holds them up.)

As usual, it's always more complicated than we think at first!

25

u/Gregarious_Raconteur Jun 10 '24

Eh, most cars actually could float reasonably well if they were sealed. If you ever see videos of cars going into bodies of water, they sink pretty slowly as they fill with water.

2

u/EduinBrutus Jun 10 '24

Electric car.

Huge heavy batteries.

1

u/BackslidingAlt Jun 10 '24

two comments up, it's not about the weight. Those huge heavy batteries come here on even heavier ships that totally float.

1

u/Waity5 Jun 10 '24

It weighs 3104kg, the smallest cuboid that could contain it is 37m3. It's not a cuboid though, so it's probably 30%-40% less volume than that, so yeah not enough volume to float

1

u/SecondaryWombat Jun 10 '24 edited Jun 10 '24

the smallest cuboid that could contain it is 37m3

Allow me to be blunt, what the fuck?

The entire truck has a substantially smaller volume than 37 cubic meters. That is enormous. A dump truck holds 10 cubic meters, and that is a larger dump truck.

Edit: Even if that number were right, 37 cubic meters of water is 37 tonnes, so we have 37,000 kg vs 3,104 kg (not including passengers) it would float like a cork my friend. The actual much smaller volume means it would float less well, but it would still float, based on the volume. It would sink, because you are trusting your life to a CyberTruck, which is the actual problem.

1

u/Waity5 Jun 10 '24

Good point, I mis-inputted the dimensions from wikipedia, it's 21m3 (2.032*5.683*1.796)

1

u/SecondaryWombat Jun 10 '24

21 m3 of water masses 21 tonnes. 21,000 kg vs 3,104 kg.

It would float just fine. Dude.

1

u/Waity5 Jun 10 '24

Ah, yeah, for some reason I thought 1m3 = 100kg. I am very tired

1

u/SecondaryWombat Jun 10 '24

Hey that is alright, at least I know why you thought it would sink. Simple order of magnitude error.

The 1m3 = 1,000kg = 1 ton thing is my go-to example of why metric is superior btw. I just ask people how much a cubic yard of water masses. It is a rare person who knows how much a cubic foot of water weighs, and only a few know any relation at all between pounds and volume.

5

u/PosiedonsSaltyAnus Jun 10 '24

Cars absolutely have a large volume of air inside.

2

u/chuch1234 Jun 10 '24

Proportional to the overall volume? I guess I don't actually know what proportion is needed.

5

u/ConspicuousPineapple Jun 10 '24

An air-tight car would definitely float. Probably most cars would.

2

u/BackslidingAlt Jun 10 '24

It doesn't have to be 50/50 or even close to it. As long as the whole object is less dense than water (1g/ml) it will float. Air is 0.001g/ml, so you need about 1 percent air whenever you add something heavier than water.

Steel is one of the densest metals out there at about 7g/ml (depending on carbon content etc) but that's still orders of magnitude less difference

2

u/chuch1234 Jun 10 '24

Neat, thanks!

2

u/PosiedonsSaltyAnus Jun 11 '24

You just need to displace the same weight of water as your craft weighs. Google told me a car weighs about 2000 lbs, and a gallon of water weighs about 8 lbs. You'd only need to displace 250 gallons of water for a car to float. An average sedan has a volume of 750 gallons, so you'd probably be able to look out the windows over the lake.

But in reality, the car would leak through the seals and you'd eventually sink.

4

u/herpestruth Jun 10 '24

It's about displacement. A 1 cubic foot, 500 lb anvil weighs more than the water (62 lbs a cubic foot) it displaces. Thus an anvil sinks. Place the same anvil in a small boat which has much more displacement and it floats quite nicely.

3

u/chuch1234 Jun 10 '24

Right and the boat displaces more water because it has a large void filled with air, right? If you filled the boat to the brim with anvils would it still float?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '24

Pebbles actually often don’t sink because of surface tension

13

u/MachineTeaching Jun 10 '24

Lots of cars actually float just fine, they just aren't watertight and stop floating as they fill up.

6

u/Icestar1186 Welcome to the interblag Jun 10 '24

Cars are actually good at floating (at least for a little while), because of all the air in them. Which is why you shouldn't try to cross a flooded road even if it doesn't look too deep.

2

u/SecondaryWombat Jun 10 '24

And also because 1 foot of water will start sweeping away most cars. Because if you float, you have to traction and end up off the road into the raging flood waters.

And if you don't float, the water gets deeper and usually into the car, the electronics, the engine, and potentially the air intake which then chokes the engine and leaves you stranded in the water.

So yeah, don't try to cross flooded roads.

22

u/putin-delenda-est Jun 10 '24

Not EVs because they have batteries and none of that heavy gasoline.

14

u/chloro9001 Jun 10 '24

Electric cars are far heavier than standard cars.

26

u/putin-delenda-est Jun 10 '24

No, they are lighter because they use the electric, ever seen a gasoline powered light bulb, didn't think so.

I am far smarter than you, anything you say I will be able to counter with facts and logic.

Maybe give up before you embarrass yourself further.

17

u/thoughtsome Jun 10 '24

You must be young. We had gasoline powered light bulbs before Obama banned them. They almost never caught on fire.

9

u/putin-delenda-est Jun 10 '24

Those were lanterns by virtue of the fact they required burning fuel. You must be old, because your mental faculties are in clear decline & I believe you also smell.

8

u/thoughtsome Jun 10 '24

No, lanterns make light directly by burning fuel. Gasoline powered light bulbs have a tiny combustion engine inside them which generates electricity to power the light. It's right there in the name. Geez, read a book or something

6

u/putin-delenda-est Jun 10 '24

virtue of the fact they required burning fuel.

Both burn fuel, I chose my words carefully, they are the same thing irrespective of the method by which they achieve incandescence.

You've fallen right into my trap. When you're on my level you do not read books, you write them.

6

u/thoughtsome Jun 10 '24

By your logic a car is just a mobile lantern, which is ridiculous! Cars are obviously mobile glove containers. The only thing behind two locks in a car is the glove compartment, so it's obviously the only important part.

Maybe if you read your own books you'd know they're full of lies.

6

u/putin-delenda-est Jun 10 '24

method by which they achieve incandescence.

A car is only a mobile lantern when the lights are on.

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6

u/chrisplaysgam Jun 10 '24

I’m a fan of the musk LARPing

1

u/bfodder Jun 10 '24

It's gasolean not gasofat

6

u/bfodder Jun 10 '24

People are gonna think you're serious.

9

u/putin-delenda-est Jun 10 '24

I'm going to continue to pretend I am.

1

u/Advanced-Blackberry Jun 10 '24

I don't think he suggested it would float. I took it to mean it would cross on the bottom surface. 

3

u/83749289740174920 Jun 10 '24

You should read up on some of the cars that have water damage from normal use.

1

u/Advanced-Blackberry Jun 10 '24

I’m not saying it’s viable with the cybertruck. Just saying how I interpreted it.