1. The value of our maritime motorways:
Why shipping matters and the principals of design

2. Session outline: The social and economic benefits of shipping
Why ships need to be
efficient
The role of physics in
shipping
This slideshow is designed to give pupils an introduction to the value of understanding the physics of shipping in real life science and engineering practices. It starts by presenting information about the value of shipping in our everyday lives and the diversity of jobs that ships are used for. It then goes onto explain the importance of understanding the physics of ship design in order to produce efficient ships for our maritime motorways and why efficiency for shipping is important. The lesson is designed as a taster for further teaching of Module A).

3. The Benefits: Shipping in our everyday lives
Employs 250,000 in the UK
Generates £37 billion to UK economy per year
The fishing industry provides us with a good source of protein for
our diets
Cargo shipping provides us with 95% of the products we use on a
day-to-day basis
Shipping is of importance to us all
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In the UK in particular, shipping employs 250,000 people in the UK,
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and is the second biggest earning industry after agriculture generating a massive £37 billion to the UK economy per year, that’s £162 per second (shown in the did you know box).
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As well as economic benefits, the shipping industry also provides social benefits as well, including a source of protein in our diets
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and the delivery of over 95% of the products we use on a day-to-day basis right to our doorsteps!
British shipping earns the UK economy £162 per second!*
*SeaVision UK
Did you know?

4. This is just one example of an NYK Shipping container ship voyaging across the oceans to deliver coffee from South America to Japan. However, many more products than just coffee are transported through shipping.
Ask pupils to take a look at their clothes labels. Take a tally and see how many pupils are wearing clothes made in other countries. You could also ask them how many own iPods, TVs, mobile phones etc… Ask pupils where they think these products are made and how they think they get to them. It is largely through container shipping.

5. Provides us with a range of products and services
Container
e.g. electricals
Bulk (e.g. coal)
People
Gas
Oil
Food
Vehicles
Wood
Here is just a small taste of the jobs ships do for us.
Starting from top left going down in rows.
Bulk carriers transport coal, minerals and ore for our industrial trade.
Container ships transport our electrical goods like iPods and commodities such as clothes for example.
Cruise ships have been used in the leisure industry for the transportation of people to far away and exotic places since the Victorian times and are still popular today.
Natural gas and oil are also transported through special ships too.
Food is even transported so we have access to fresh products in our supermarkets from far away places all year round.
Even the vehicles we use to get around in are brought to us through ships.
Forestry products such as wood chips and other raw materials are also traded using ships.
We have our big dredging ships which make port waters deep enough to dock ships in for example by digging away at the sea bed. This material does not go to waste though and is stored and sold on for the building trade for example as sand is a valuable resource.
Finally we have our more typical fishing boats which still go out in treacherous weather conditions just to bring us fresh fish to our plate.
Not pictured are many other types of ships such as research vessels that advance our understanding of science by exploring otherwise inaccessible places such as the deep sea.
The plenary exercise in this resource pack provides a hands-on activity to consolidate pupils knowledge about the different types of ship and the jobs that they do.
Dredging
Fish

6. Each ship is carefully crafted and designed to carry out its job
As the efficiency of shipping is largely determined by the shape of ships, ship builders and designers need to have a sound understanding of the physics behind this.
This involves having a good understanding of the physics of ships

7. How ships are designed Considering the shape of ships
When naval architects and marine engineers design
and build ships, they have to follow a certain number
of rules…
Two of the most important are:
1 They have to float and stay upright – Looks at Buoyancy and Stability of ships
2 They have to be able to move – Looks at Power (thrust) and Drag on ships
Read through text
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8. The Shape of Ships Buoyancy and Stability
How stable and buoyant a ship is has a lot to do with its shape:
Depth of cargo hold
Surface area in
contact with water
Vs.
Deep
Shallow
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The depth of the cargo hold can effect how stable a ship is in the water.
Ask pupils why they think this is:
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Ask which type of cargo hold (deep or shallow) is likely to provide the most stable design in the water. The answer is ‘deep’ because it has a low centre of gravity and is therefore more stable. You could relate this to two stickmen drawings. One with a big head and normal sized feet and one with big feet and a normal sized head. The one with the large feet will be more stable because it has a lower centre of gravity.
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The surface area in contact with the water can effect a ships performance
Ask pupils why they think this is. Emphasise it has something to do with resistance
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Ask which type of cargo hold is likely to produce least drag in the water – They should choose ‘low’ because a lower surface area of the ship is in contact with water and therefore a lower resistance is generated on the ship.
However, now ask pupils which of the ships is likely to be more stable in the water. They should say ‘high’ because being lower down in the water increases stability because it lowers the centre of gravity. However, in this case ships also need to be very careful that the ship does not sit too low in the water otherwise it may fill with water and sink!
Emphasise to pupils that there is a trade-off between resistance and stability and that ships in particular need to be very careful about getting this calculation right, otherwise it could endanger the life of the crew (if the ship is unstable) or make shipping an inefficient method of transport (if resistance on the ship is too high).
The extension activity “safety on ships” discusses the introduction of the Plimsoll line to address this very trade-off and also includes a practical element to work out the plimsoll line of a model ship. We provide in the teacher’s notes ways in which pupils can make model ships for this exercise very easily in the Teacher’s notes section of this activity. This could be carried out in a complementary D and T session to this lesson.
Low
High
Vs.

9. The Shape of Ships Resistance and drag
How resistant to drag a ship is has a lot to do with its shape:
Streamlining
Surface texture
Vs.
Curved
Straight edged
The drag on a ship has a lot to do with its shape.
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Which of these shapes do you think would provide the most streamlined design for ships? Ask pupils why
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Which of these surface textures do you think would provide the most streamlined design for ships? Ask pupils why
For more information about how marine engineers keep ships’ hulls smooth during sailing, please see Paint_Science in Module C) Shipping and the Environment available from the Inspiring Seas website
Vs.
Smooth
Rough

10. But why is efficiency so important in the shipping industry?...
So shape clearly has an influence over how good, or efficient a ship is
Now we understand that how good, or efficient, a ship is has a lot to do with its shape, but why is efficiency so important anyway?
But why is efficiency so important in the shipping industry?...

11. …because it makes them more:
Cost effective: A streamlined shape lowers drag and the
amount of fuel needed to provide the power (thrust) to
move ships from A to B.
Environmentally friendly: lowering the amount of fuel
needed to transport ships from A to B means less
pollution to the atmosphere and surrounding
water.
Ask pupils what their ideas are:
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First of all an efficient design makes shipping a more cost effective industry. If ships have a streamlined design for example less water resistance is imposed on the ships hull. This reduces the power (thrust) required to overcome resistance and so less fuel is required to move ships from A to B. This means for cargo shipping for example the end products (bought by us the consumers) are actually cheaper to buy!
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Not only this but by reducing the amount of fuel required to power ships we also make shipping a more environmentally friendly industry as less pollution is generated in the form of oil pollution and emissions.
Ask pupils what the effects of fossil fuel emissions are (looking for acids in the environment and global climate change). More information on shipping and the environment can be found in Module C) from the Inspiring Seas site.

12. Physics in the real world - still a key role to play in how ships are made
The remainder of this presentation shows how the physics behind shipping is put into practice when ships are actually commissioned to be built
When ships are commissioned and designed by Naval Architects, a hugely scaled down version is made from wood, wax or fibre glass and is tested for efficiency in a piece of equipment known in the business as a ‘towing tank’.
The tank has a run line for the model ship to be attached to, which then draws the ship through the water. The resistance on the ship model can be measured and with some careful maths marine engineers can work out whether the ship, when built to full size and out of steel, would be seaworthy. That’s some pretty important physics!
Newcastle University’s Towing Tank

13. Physics in the real world - still a key role to play in how ships are made
Its not just the efficiency of the ship as a whole though that needs calculating when designing ships. The propeller also needs some physics and engineering input as well!
How much ‘work’ is provided by the propeller of a ship is determined by its design. Marine engineers focus on something known as the ‘pitch’ of the propeller (how curved the blades are) to determine how much power you get for the amount of fuel used and the size and type of ship for which the propeller is used. At Newcastle University’s cavitation tunnel the efficiency of propellers is monitored carefully using laser based technology. That’s some high tech physics!
As a bit of a sideline, actual propellers used on ships can weigh up to 30 tonnes each and ships can use up to 6 of these at a time!
Newcastle University’s Cavitation Tunnel

14. Take home messages
Shipping has many social and economic benefits such as
employment and the transport of products we all use and rely
upon on a day-to-day basis
Ships carry out a huge range of maritime tasks that are of
importance to us all, from bringing us fresh foods from around the
world to providing us with the cars we use to get around in
The efficiency of shipping has a lot to do with physics and
in particular the shape of ships
By being efficient ships encounter less drag during sailing and therefore
use less fuel. This means shipping delivers products that are affordable
and has a lower impact on the environment
Focussing on the physics of shipping therefore has social, economic and
environmental benefits