Displacement (ship)

Okay kiddo, you know how when you get into the pool, the water gets higher and some of it spills out over the sides? That's because you're taking up space in the water.

Well, ships work kinda the same way. When a big ship goes into the water, it pushes some of the water aside and takes up space. That space is called "displacement."

Displacement helps determine how heavy the ship is, because the more water it displaces, the heavier it is. And the heavier a ship is, the deeper it sinks into the water.

This is important for a lot of reasons. For example, if the ship is carrying cargo, we need to make sure it doesn't sink too deep and get in trouble. So we have to know how much water it displaces, and make sure it's not too much for the ship to handle.

But don't worry too much about all that - just remember that displacement is like the space a ship takes up in the water, and it helps us figure out how heavy the ship is.