HOW The SHIP MOVES through Water

 Assalamualaykum, and welcome back to life in ships and sea. If we study all the world's professions among the ones that date way back in history is probably the Merchant Navy profession. The Merchant Navy profession dates back many years, like if we take Hazrat Nooh 's (AS) ark for example so from his time onwards, I think the Merchant Navy has seen a lot of progress First, this used to be carried out in smaller ships. People would travel by rivers

if you've heard about the Pyramids of Egypt they would transport huge granite rocks through the River Nile on little ships. The world moved forward, then came sailing. Instead of oars - in fact, ships were considered vessels since they were a bit bigger at that point in time. So, instead of oars, they started using sails. The sails would use winds to work. And with the help of winds, ships would travel from one territory to another. Things kept on advancing. Fast forward to today: what we can say for sure about today is 91% of the world's trade is via ships. Although trading hasn't changed, what has changed is the mechanics and sizes of the ships carrying out trading. Vessels used to be smaller, but gradually got bigger.

Take the Titanic of 1912 for example, compare its size to today's ships. The Titanic was pretty small compared to today's ships. Nowadays, ships are huge. They're humongous. If you take my previous ship for example, which I onboard before my vacations started. Which I'll be boarding again. Take two ships bigger than the Titanic and combine those, that's how big today's ships are. That's how big my ship was. Aside from that, important change that came was in the propulsion section. Ships today don't need winds to operate, it's only recreational boats in places like Australia, Europe in general, I've seen some in America, too. They have sails attached and they move via their sails. Otherwise, ships don't need sails to work. The propulsion of ships now requires mechanics. Now, this is my Kia. There's an engine at the front, in the bonnet. It's meant to mechanically generate power, usually ICE, i.e., internal combustion engine. The power it generates via its gearing and shaft, is transferred to the car's wheels. Now, this is an AWD, i.e., all-wheel drive, the power is transferred to all the wheels but usually, it's two wheels. Usually, it's the front wheels that are powered by the engine. And since your car is being driven on a road, its tires help it move forward. It's not the same with ships, because they don't run on roads. In ships, the engine is almost the same, in fact, it's almost the same. The propulsion system is a bit different, however. Since ships don't run on roads.

Of course, they don't have tires. What propels a ship forward is called a propeller. The thing of note here is, since the beginning, if you take ships for example, if you also take smaller ships for example, even big ones, they all run on water. Water is a fluid. There are many forces for driving forward an object on water. If it's wind, a piece of straw on the surface of the water will be led forward. Similarly, take a ship that isn't docked, the water currents, waves, and wind will propel it forward. Humans have taken advantage of this for very long, but now, it's not the winds or the currents, or waves that propel a ship forward. Now it's different. What happens is, when the main engine is running, it's transferring its power through a shaft, towards the ship's propeller. The propeller is located behind the ship, that's the most practical place for moving a ship forward. Have you ever seen anyone pushing a car? How is it done? You see a few people at the back pushing the car, and it moves forward. It's almost the same with ships. Propeller sucks in water coming towards it, sending it backwards. And in return, as you've heard about Newton's law of motion, i.e., every action has an equal and opposite reaction, in the same way, as the propeller sucks in water from the forward sending it back towards the aft, that causes the ship to move forward. A propeller is somewhat like a fan. You've seen a fan. When you place a piece of paper behind it, notice how the fan sucks the paper in from behind, sending it forward. It basically takes advantage of what's already there. It only displaces the air around it. A ship's propeller works the same way. To put it simply, this can also be called a "screw action." When you rotate a screw into a board, it goes into the board in a rotating action,

because every screw has a pitch. IN the same way, every propeller has a pitch. The blades of a propeller are angled in such a way, that when it moves underwater, it looks like a screw. The propeller of a ship is called a screw, as well. I'm not one for this idea, though. Because it does explain the real theory behind a propeller. A better theory in my opinion, is the one about the fan. A more realistic approach to the propeller of a ship. The propeller of a ship can be small, it can be big, it completely depends on the size of the ship it's attached to. When a ship is designed, in the same way, according to its size, its gross weight, the cargo it's supposed to carry (also called net weight), a propeller is then designed to give it enough power for a voyage from one place to another. A lot of people also ask how many propellers a ship has. Commonly, it's just one. Because after a lot of research and findings, it's an established fact, that just one propeller for a ship is enough. There are twin screw vessels as well, and there have been experiments in the past where they would fit three propellers into a ship. There are many different types now, Azipods too.

What are Azipods?

Normally, when a propeller works, it sucks in water, sending it backwards, there's a rudder at the back. The ship moves when its rudder moves. When the rudder moves to the port or starboard, the ship follows suit. The second way a ship moves are via Azipods, they're like propellers, but they don't need a rudder to work. In such a case, a propeller is attached to an Azipod, and when the Azipod moves, the ship it's attached to, moves. No rudder is needed. So, you see how everything is evolving? Things are different now. And I recorded today's video because I had been receiving requests regarding propellers, about how a ship actually moves.

So in this article, I have tried to explain how a ship moves. That was the main aim of this Article. And that's what I wanted to tell you in this article. So, if you liked today's article, learned something new from it, found anything interesting in it, don't forget to like, share and follow. Take good care of yourselves.

Remember me in your prayers.

I'm Sameer Mukhtar,

ALLAH Hafiz.