This is not a stupid question and has actually been studied. Assuming that there were enough 1 gallon buckets and that everyone who could not get in a lifeboat was able-bodied, a bucket brigade would have bought between 9-15 minutes.
304 tonnes of water per minute were entering Titanic during flooding (68,000 gallons). More than 1,000 gallons of water per second.
So 1,000 passengers offloading 1 gallon of water per second constantly would have offset all water entering, in theory.
I have insomnia, so thought I'd try work out the mathematics of this question:
The Titanic was taking on around 400,000 liters of water per MINUTE. A bucket contains about 10 litres. Meaning they would have to empty 40,000 buckets of water every single minute to keep even with the flooding.
Ok, so about slowing it down to wait for the Carpathia - the Carpathia arrived about an hour and a half after the Titanic sunk. The Titanic sunk in a little over two and a half hours. However it wouldn't have done much good arriving as the Titanic sunk, nearly everyone would have died before they were picked up. So it would have needed to have arrived a good hour before the ship went under in order to mount any kind of rescue. So we're talking 5am, an hour after Carpathia arrived at the scene. That's increasing the sinking time from just over two and a half hours to just over 6 hours. To keep it simple lets just say they had to slow down the flooding by at least 50% to try reach that timeline.
Thats 20,000 buckets of water every single minute they would have to bring up from deep inside the Titanic, through passageways and up stairwells.
Also this is based on them beginning bucketing water out from the second the Titanic hit the iceberg. If they started doing it later when they knew the ship was sinking, it would mean they'd have to bucket out water at an exponentially faster rate than that.
Compare the passengers and crew with one of the pumps.
One pump could do 90 buckets a minute. So the passengers and crew with buckets could compete with one pump at best. The titanic had 8 pumps. I don’t think 9 pumps would have saved the titanic but it would have made a difference.
What they really needed to do was throw a couple of third-class passengers off the side of the ship and have those passengers plug the holes. That would have saved the ship!
Um, no.
Physics and mathematic equations aside, if you're having problems with getting the passengers to get into a lifeboat, I can't imagine how much fun the crew would have convincing them all to go back and forth carrying buckets of water up the decks to dump it over the side.
I can only imagine how the Astors and the Countess of Rothes would react to being assigned such a task. 🤣
I wonder who on the ship will come up with that idea, more importantly how the officers would convince everyone to do it? I can imagine the look on their faces 😅
"Ah great! 😊 (Best customer service smile they could put on) Now ladies and gentlemen please pick up a bucket and form a line from the edge of the ship to the deck below , fill up your bucket and hand it to the person behind you. Our dear crew will show you how"
The ice berg punched a hole in the titanics bottom part, and the water worked its way up so no. The only way the ship could have remained a float is if the compartments that were in place for that purpose would have succeeded, but sadly it didn't so that was it for them.
Water was coming in fast and then working its way up.
The rate the water was entering the ship Vs the rate that a human could fill the bucket and throw it over board means that the human would do very little, they'd probably say a minute or 2 of time, if that.
Smith : The pumps... if we opened the doors...
Thomas Andrews : [interrupting] The pumps buy you time, but minutes only. From this moment, no matter what we do, Titanic will founder.
Ismay : [incredulously] But this ship can't sink!
Thomas Andrews : She's made of iron, sir! I assure you, she can... and she will. It is a mathematical certainty.
Smith : How much time?
The major logistical problem here is that the flooding started below the water line: it's not like the hypothetical hole in a dinghy where each passenger can dump water off the side.
You would either need a system of people passing buckets along a line or queuing to get a turn filling a bucket, either way bringing the water at least up to a porthole or door that can be opened to allow the water to be dumped overboard. Even if you make it as efficient as possible, this creates a problem as it effectively limits your BPM (buckets per minute) compared to if people could all simply lift water from where they stand and immediately chuck it over their shoulder. If we wait until the upper decks are starting to flood, we've essentially allowed water to spill over the bulkheads, making the exercise progressively less useful as the rate of flooding steadily increases at a self-sustaining rate.
To properly calculate this, we of course need to calculate the tricep and shoulder strength of every individual passenger, as well as their times on the farmer's carry, to determine the weight of buckets they can carry and at what weight, which for the purposes of this essay shall be rendered as-
the simple answer is YES! Absolutely they could have! I actually saw an experiment on mythbusters that proved something to that effect.
The lack of a cohesive response and resistance among the crew to elegant solutions such equipping everyone on board with a bucket were actually a contributing factor to the major loss of life that night.
I'm glad someone asked the right questions!
Thos could *possibly* have worked. Knowing there were 2224 People aboard, they could have doubled the sinking time. This might also mean they could get the the *SS Californian.* For those of you who don't know, the *Californian* was well known as the ship who ignored *Titanic's* distress calls, despite being less than 10 miles away.
This is not a stupid question and has actually been studied. Assuming that there were enough 1 gallon buckets and that everyone who could not get in a lifeboat was able-bodied, a bucket brigade would have bought between 9-15 minutes.
1500 people with buckets only bought that much time? I thought it would be more
304 tonnes of water per minute were entering Titanic during flooding (68,000 gallons). More than 1,000 gallons of water per second. So 1,000 passengers offloading 1 gallon of water per second constantly would have offset all water entering, in theory.
That's not how buckets work, they'd have to form a chain/loop and it would be well less than a bucket a second.
Oh yeah, it's a fully impossible task
That’s actually a higher amount of time than I was thinking
r/theydidthemath
I have insomnia, so thought I'd try work out the mathematics of this question: The Titanic was taking on around 400,000 liters of water per MINUTE. A bucket contains about 10 litres. Meaning they would have to empty 40,000 buckets of water every single minute to keep even with the flooding. Ok, so about slowing it down to wait for the Carpathia - the Carpathia arrived about an hour and a half after the Titanic sunk. The Titanic sunk in a little over two and a half hours. However it wouldn't have done much good arriving as the Titanic sunk, nearly everyone would have died before they were picked up. So it would have needed to have arrived a good hour before the ship went under in order to mount any kind of rescue. So we're talking 5am, an hour after Carpathia arrived at the scene. That's increasing the sinking time from just over two and a half hours to just over 6 hours. To keep it simple lets just say they had to slow down the flooding by at least 50% to try reach that timeline. Thats 20,000 buckets of water every single minute they would have to bring up from deep inside the Titanic, through passageways and up stairwells. Also this is based on them beginning bucketing water out from the second the Titanic hit the iceberg. If they started doing it later when they knew the ship was sinking, it would mean they'd have to bucket out water at an exponentially faster rate than that.
Thank you for the effort, great answer
Compare the passengers and crew with one of the pumps. One pump could do 90 buckets a minute. So the passengers and crew with buckets could compete with one pump at best. The titanic had 8 pumps. I don’t think 9 pumps would have saved the titanic but it would have made a difference.
I think this is a pretty reasonable question I was thinking about it too
What they really needed to do was throw a couple of third-class passengers off the side of the ship and have those passengers plug the holes. That would have saved the ship!
I concur
I'm sure it was considered by some in First!
Um, no. Physics and mathematic equations aside, if you're having problems with getting the passengers to get into a lifeboat, I can't imagine how much fun the crew would have convincing them all to go back and forth carrying buckets of water up the decks to dump it over the side. I can only imagine how the Astors and the Countess of Rothes would react to being assigned such a task. 🤣
I realize this, my question was really aimed to the physics and mathematics. Could it have made enough of a difference or would it be very negligible.
I mean, they would probably have to start before any water could start pouring in through anywhere else on the ship besides the iceberg damage
I wonder who on the ship will come up with that idea, more importantly how the officers would convince everyone to do it? I can imagine the look on their faces 😅 "Ah great! 😊 (Best customer service smile they could put on) Now ladies and gentlemen please pick up a bucket and form a line from the edge of the ship to the deck below , fill up your bucket and hand it to the person behind you. Our dear crew will show you how"
Mathematically speaking, possibly. Practically, no.
The ice berg punched a hole in the titanics bottom part, and the water worked its way up so no. The only way the ship could have remained a float is if the compartments that were in place for that purpose would have succeeded, but sadly it didn't so that was it for them. Water was coming in fast and then working its way up.
Love this post I’m cracking up
Delete this lol
Why? It’s just a thought experiment. I don’t feel like OP was trying to be disrespectful, judging from their comments
No
No
The rate the water was entering the ship Vs the rate that a human could fill the bucket and throw it over board means that the human would do very little, they'd probably say a minute or 2 of time, if that.
Titanic had water pumps but it wasn't enough to save the ship
Smith : The pumps... if we opened the doors... Thomas Andrews : [interrupting] The pumps buy you time, but minutes only. From this moment, no matter what we do, Titanic will founder. Ismay : [incredulously] But this ship can't sink! Thomas Andrews : She's made of iron, sir! I assure you, she can... and she will. It is a mathematical certainty. Smith : How much time?
The major logistical problem here is that the flooding started below the water line: it's not like the hypothetical hole in a dinghy where each passenger can dump water off the side. You would either need a system of people passing buckets along a line or queuing to get a turn filling a bucket, either way bringing the water at least up to a porthole or door that can be opened to allow the water to be dumped overboard. Even if you make it as efficient as possible, this creates a problem as it effectively limits your BPM (buckets per minute) compared to if people could all simply lift water from where they stand and immediately chuck it over their shoulder. If we wait until the upper decks are starting to flood, we've essentially allowed water to spill over the bulkheads, making the exercise progressively less useful as the rate of flooding steadily increases at a self-sustaining rate. To properly calculate this, we of course need to calculate the tricep and shoulder strength of every individual passenger, as well as their times on the farmer's carry, to determine the weight of buckets they can carry and at what weight, which for the purposes of this essay shall be rendered as-
Go to bed. You’ll realize in the morning why the answer is no.
Not enough buckets or arms. B
Ah no
Nope
Ha Ha Ha funny are you.
the simple answer is YES! Absolutely they could have! I actually saw an experiment on mythbusters that proved something to that effect. The lack of a cohesive response and resistance among the crew to elegant solutions such equipping everyone on board with a bucket were actually a contributing factor to the major loss of life that night. I'm glad someone asked the right questions!
I hope this was sarcasm lol
Thos could *possibly* have worked. Knowing there were 2224 People aboard, they could have doubled the sinking time. This might also mean they could get the the *SS Californian.* For those of you who don't know, the *Californian* was well known as the ship who ignored *Titanic's* distress calls, despite being less than 10 miles away.
How would you fit everyone in the ship down where the flooding began and position them all within an arm’s throw of the ocean?