Like other ships, a submarine can float because the weight of the water that it displaces

is equal to the weight of the ship. This means the pressure of thesubmarine pressing
down on the water is the same as the pressure of the water pushing up on the ship.

This phenomenon is called buoyant force. Buoyant force works the same way on
a submarine, a pirate ship at sea, or a rubber duck floating in your bathtub.

A submarine is different from other ships, though, because it can control its buoyancy.
This means the submarine captain can decide when to sink down into the ocean or
come back up to the surface.

In order to control buoyancy, the submarine relies on special tanks that can be filled
with water or air. To return to the surface, the tanks are filled with air. This makes
the submarine less dense than the water around it, causing the sub to float to
the surface.

When the captain decides its time to take a dive, the air is released through a vent, and
the tanks are flooded with water. This makes the submarinedenser than the
surrounding water, which causes it to sink.

A supply of air is kept on board to fill and refill the tanks. In an emergency, the tanks can
be filled with high-pressure air to return the crew and the vessel to the surface very
quickly.

Living on a submarine might sound like fun, but there are challenges to life under the
sea. The three biggest problems involve maintaining air quality, fresh water supply, and
temperature.

The air we breathe is made up of four gases: nitrogen, oxygen, argon, andcarbon
dioxide. When we take a big breath of air, our bodies use up theoxygen. When we
breathe out, we exhale carbon dioxide. We dont do anything with nitrogen or argon.

Imagine you are about to be sealed in a giant tube with all your friends. When the tube
is sealed, all the air available to you is now inside. Theres just one problem: no air can
get in or out. A submarine works the same way.

In order to keep people breathing (and alive!), three things must happen.
First, oxygen must be pumped into the vessel as the crew uses it up by
breathing. Oxygen is typically supplied to the submarine from pressurized tanks. A
computerized system monitors oxygen in the air and releases freshoxygen as its
needed by the crew.

Next, exhaled carbon dioxide must be removed or it becomes a toxin. Machines called
scrubbers use soda lime to trap carbon dioxide, removing it from the air.
 Finally, exhaled moisture from breathing must be removed to preventcondensation on
the interior of the ship or equipment. This is done with dehumidifiers.

As you know, humans cant live long without water. Since submarines dont have
access to municipal water systems or wells, they have to find a way to maintain a
fresh water supply for drinking.

Most ships have special equipment that can remove the salts from seawater to turn it
into fresh drinking water. This process is called distillation. Some submarines can
produce up to 40,000 gallons of fresh water per day. It is used for everything from
cooling electronic equipment to cooking and showering.

Since submarines are metal, they conduct heat from inside the ship to the cooler
surrounding water. In order to keep the crew comfortable, submarines also need
heating systems.

Would you want to spend several months in a submarine at the bottom of the sea? Why
or why not? Imagine what life would be like if you were confined to a submarine for an
entire summer. What would you miss? What would be fun about it? Make a list of pros
and cons and share it with a friend or family member. Do they feel the same way as you
do? What pros and cons can they think of?

It may not be able to take you to the bottom of the ocean floor, but thishomemade
ship will put you in control of your very own submarine. So what are you waiting for?
Are you ready to head down under, captain?

Does water really exert force on submerged things? You bet it does! To learn more about
this force, check out The Pressure of Water experiment. All youll need is your hands and a
plastic baggie. Share what you learn with friends and family members!

Power Supply
Nuclear submarines use nuclear reactors, steam turbines, and reduction gearing to
drive the main propeller shaft. Electric power is also used to operate equipment, this is
made from diesel engines and nuclear reactors. Batteries may also be used for electric
power, and they may be charged using either a diesel engine or a nuclear reactor.

Nuclear submarines have an advantage to diesel submarines because they can stay
submerged for weeks at a time. Diesel engines can only be used while the submarine
is surfaced, or at least using a snorkel, to recharge the batteries. Once the batteries are
charged, the submarine can descend using electric power. Because nuclear fuel lasts
much longer than diesel fuel, nuclear submarines can stay under water or at sea for
long periods of time, without having to port to refuel.

Navigation
Submarines navigate using global positioning system while on the surface, however,
this will not work while the vessel is submerged. Underwater, the crafts use inertial
guidance systems that keep track of the ships motion from a fixed starting point using
gyroscopes. These systems are very complex and difficult to use, and very accurate at
the same time. They are accurate up to 150 hours at a time.
To locate targets, submarines use passive sonar. This works by emitting sound waves
through water and allowing the sound waves to reflect off the target and return; by
knowing the speed of sound in water and the time it took for the sound wave to travel
back, submarines can calculate the distance to the target. This is the same technique
that bats, dolphins, and whales use. These systems can also help recalibrate the inertial
guidance systems.

Air Supply
Oxygen is supplied from either compressed tanks, or an oxygen generator, which
works by electrolysis. Oxygen can either be released in periods throughout the day, or
whenever a computer senses the oxygen level is low. Carbon Dioxide must be
removed from the air as well. This can be done chemically using soda lime in
scrubbers. The carbon dioxide is trapped and removed from the air in chemical
reactions. Moisture is removed by a dehumidifier, this prevents condensation buildup
within the ship.

Water Supply
Most submarines can take in seawater and turn it into fresh water through a distillation
process. The distillation plant on submarines can produce 10,000 to 40,000 gallons of
water per day. The water is mainly used for cooling equipment and for the crews
personal use.
HOW DOES A SUBMARINE FLOAT
& SINK ?
Well, you might have an idea about this if you have read one of my earlier posts
how does a ship float ?
BALLAST TANKS :- What are they, they are just empty spaces between the outer
covering of submarine & the inner covering.
When they want to go down they open a valve which fills these tanks with water,
which increases the weight of submarine, due to which the average density increases
& results in downward movement of submarine.
When they want to rise up using highly compressed air cylinders they pump out
the water thereby filling the ballast tanks with air due to which there is a decrement in
average density & results in upward movement of submarine.
The tanks in front are also called trim tanks, they allow the pilot to keep the nose in
upward or downward direction.
(If your concept of floating and/or sinking is not clear, I suggest you to read one of my
previous articles How do ships float ?)
 source:- www.tumblr.com

source:- www.heiszwolf.com

How do submarines stand against massive pressure of water ?

They are designed to go to the depth of seas & oceans. As we know, the water
pressure increases proportionally to the depth of water( P=hdg, h denotes depth, d
denotes density of fluid, g denotes gravity). At 600m of depth the pressure is 6
times the pressure on surface. The pressure of water pushing inward is the biggest
problem for anyone who wants to go deep beneath the ocean surface.
PRESSURE HULLS :- These are the outer coverings of the vehicle. A light hull is
used as a outer non-watertight hull which provides a hydrodynamically efficient
shape. The pressure hull is the hull of submarine this holds the difference between
outside and inside pressure. Water or air is filled between the spaces of these two
hulls. The strongest submarines hulls are made from hard steel or titanium !
 source :- www.marietime.com

How do submarines move ?

PROPULSION SYSTEM :- Bikes, cars, trucks, trains all run on Internal
combustion engines which uses the oxygen from air for combustion. But, down in
ocean, there is this whole new world without air. Earlier, the submarines had diesel-
electric engines in which a diesel engine rotated a shaft instead of the main propeller,
which charged the batteries fully & only then the submarine would go underwater
relying entirely on battery power. Now most of the modern military submarines are
nuclear powered. Like small nuclear power plants, the submarine has a nuclear reactor
which doesnt require air & then generate power to drive the subs electric motors.
HYDROPLANES like airplane wings, are also used to move up & down. A rear
wing or tail or rudder is used to take turns.
How do men survive ?
The crew need oxygen to breath, from where do they get it ?
ELECTROLYSIS :- A process which is used to separate oxygen & hydrogen by
passing DC current to water. Water is readily available from the ocean & also
electricity is available through batteries. I guess the problem is solved.
Military purposes :-
I tell you a missile coming out of nowhere from inside the vast ocean is one of
the best thing I have ever seen in my life !!! Could you believe that ? a missile
could be launched from under the water !
Engineers, after scratching their head a lot, finally found out a solution. As fuel cannot
be burned inside the water, they super-heated the water due to which it instantly
turned into steam which
propelled the missile out of water & then rocket engine was able to ignite & blow up
a place. SONAR(Sound Navigation And Ranging) is a technique used to navigate &
detect objects under sea.