How do submarines sink if they are full of air?

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 denser than the surrounding water, which causes it to sink.

How far down can a submarine go?

A nuclear submarine can dive to a depth of about 300m. This one is larger than the research vessel Atlantis and has a crew of 134. The average depth of the Caribbean Sea is 2,200 meters, or about 1.3 miles. The average depth of the world’s oceans is 3,790 meters, or 12,400 feet, or 2 1⁄3 miles.

How do submarines go deep?

Submarines have large ballast tanks that can be filled with water, adding weight to the sub and allowing it to submerge. They use compressed air to blow the water out letting it surface. Varying the amount of water in the ballast tanks changes the buoyancy of the sub allowing it to go to different depths.

What causes a submarine to sink?

As the submarine dives, the ballast tanks are flooded with water and the air in the ballast tanks is vented from the submarine until its overall density is greater than the surrounding water and the submarine begins to sink (negative buoyancy).

How do you control the buoyancy of a submarine?

To control its buoyancy, the submarine has ballast tanks and auxiliary, or trim tanks, that can be alternately filled with water or air (see animation below). When the submarine is on the surface, the ballast tanks are filled with air and the submarine’s overall density is less than that of the surrounding water.

Why is the stern of a submarine angled?

The hydroplanes are angled so that water moves up over the stern, which forces the stern downward; therefore, the submarine is angled upward. In an emergency, the ballast tanks can be filled quickly with high-pressure air to take the submarine to the surface very rapidly.