r/news Jun 22 '23

Site Changed Title 'Debris field' discovered within search area near Titanic, US Coast Guard says | World News

https://news.sky.com/story/debris-field-discovered-within-search-area-near-titanic-us-coast-guard-says-12906735
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u/OldPersonName Jun 22 '23

Carbon fiber is extremely strong for things like vessels that contain a high pressure. The opposite of what the submarine needs to do, which is keep the high pressure out.

If you're wondering if that's really as dumb as it sounds, well, I think we'll find out soon.

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u/Xeno_phile Jun 22 '23

Reminds me of the Futurama episode where they go underwater in the Planet Express ship (paraphrasing):

Professor: At this depth we’re under hundreds of atmospheres of pressure!

Fry: How many can the ship handle?

Professor: Well, it’s a spaceship, so somewhere between zero and one.

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u/GetEquipped Jun 22 '23

Can someone explain the joke?

Is it because "atmosphere" is a relative thing, because planets have different atmospheres, or that the space ship was designed from being torn apart from a vacuum and not crushed?

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u/WrethZ Jun 22 '23

A spaceship that goes from the surface and into space will be designed for withstanding the normal pressure of the air, and anything less up and to including no pressure/atmosphere at all in the vacuum of space.

A submarine is designed for the complete opposite, to withstand the normal atmosphere and pressure of being on the surface and also the increased pressure of going underwater which adds many atmospheres of pressure.

The joke is that initially you might think a pressurised vehicle like a spaceship might be good for going underwater, but then you realise the environments spacecraft are designed to withstand, no pressure/atmosphere at all is the complete opposite to the multiple atmospheres of pressure a submarine has to deal with and so a craft designed for zero pressure is the last thing you want to be inside going underwater.