Question

At the end of the movie Titanic, Rose lies on a piece of furniture, floating in the ocean, and Jack drowns. A common objection posed to this scene is that there’s room on the furniture for Jack as well, so why didn’t she let him get on it with her?

Let’s assume that the piece of furniture has an area of 1.5 m , a thickness of 5 cm, and is made of pine (ρ = 350 kg/m3). Assuming Rose has a mass of 46 kg and Jack has a mass of 58 kg, could they have both managed to stay afloat on the raft together? Assume the density of seawater is approximately 1025 kg/m3 and that the raft is completely submerged when rose is on top of it.

Answer 1

If jack is in the piece of furniture it would submerge.

Step-by-step explanation:

The piece of furniture would submerge if the weight applied on the furniture is greater than the maximum buoancy force the water can provide.

maximum buoacy force = density of liquid × volume submerged× acceleration due to gravity.

=
`1025* v* 9.8`

v = area × thickness of pine

`1.5* 5* 10^(-2)`

= 0.075
`m^(3)`

therefore buoancy force = 1025×0.075×9.8 N

= 753.375 N

weight of rose alone = 46×9.8 N = 450.8 N

weight of jack alone = 58×9.8 = 568.4 N

weight of pine = density of pine × volume of pine

= 350 × 0.075= 26.25 N

weight of pine + weight of rose = 450.8+26.25=477.05 N

weight of pine + rose + jack = 477.05 + 568.4 = 1045.45 N

therefore if jack is in the piece of furniture it would submerge.