Hey, Aaron! The "bow resurfacing" was most likely the bow correcting her port list and listing slightly to starboard after she twisted, buckled, and broke from the stern, or at least that's what I believe. There is no way the bow would've dramatically resurfaced at such a high angle later in the sinking. Even if the bow still had plenty of air inside, she would not have dramatically resurfaced from the water that way. It would've been
much subtler.
I think the second picture above more accurately demonstrates the break-up process than the later photos. Here's my version for reference:
View attachment 49280
View attachment 49281
This is based on my previous findings, I've since revisioned the break-up visual based on new evidence and calculations. Class in session.
How high did the bow rise? Is it possible for the bow to rise sky high at a 45 degree angle, mirroring the stern when it rose?
We know the Titanic displaced 52,310 tons intact. We can make an educated estimate of reduced displacement based upon dispersal of flooding, which we know was localized along the
E-deck crew passage, partially of boiler room 6, the mail hold, various spaces on
F-deck including the third class dining saloon, the Turkish bath complex, and Squash court. And the after parts - the engine room, and 2nd class cabins near the forward stairwell. There was very little flooding above
D-deck at this point in the sinking. We can infer at least anywhere between 30-35% of the ship was flooded at the time of break.
An object that sinks displaces an amount of fluid equal to the object's volume. Thus buoyancy is expressed through Archimedes' principle, which states that the weight of the object is reduced by its volume multiplied by the density of the fluid.
As we know, water doesn't make the object heavier, it merely reduces buoyancy.
Without factoring the loss of displacement just yet, we can independently infer that the broken sections by estimate would displace the following tons.
Bow = 26,155 tons
Middle = 8,719 tons
Stern = 17,436 tons
At surface glance, the bow makes of significantly more of the ship than the middle, but we must not forget the the area of concentration of water being not in the forward compartments, due to the resistance of cargo and mail occupying these spaces. Therefore, when the ship broke apart, water circumvents throughout the lower decks aft at Boiler Room 1 with two dynamic forces - the rapid intake of water entering the amidship from the break causing the bow to rise, followed by the outflow of current floodwater spilling through the compartments which were indicated to have been opened to bodily stem water flow.
At this point, the after end of the bow piece behaves as the fulcrum. Here's an experiment. Take an ordinary garden hoe and place your foot on it with force. The pole immediately shoots vertical.
Now, how do we determine the travelling force of the middle section pressing down upon the bow? Remember, the engines were observed to have fallen out from their beds.
Percy Keen: "It appeared to us that when the ship listed heavily to port
the engines fell out and crashed through the side. The second funnel broke off, and killed a number of people in its fall."
John B. Thayer: "The Titanic seemed to hang and with the roar of
boilers and engines breaking loose in the hold slipping to the forward part of the ship"
Thomas Whiteley: "When I got the rope on my leg off I came to the top, made for some wreckage which I hung on to, just in time to see the
Titanic blow her sides away."
Titanic's engines fell 19 metres unto the after end of the bow. The combined total of weight would entail both the forward engine cylinders and the bulk of the middle section, rapidly descending on the rapidly flooding end of the bow. Unfortunately, we have to estimate the speed of which it fell, assuming it was a free-fall force with some air and water resistance. We can make a fair assumption through simple mathematics:
E = (0.5x 9,439 x 90^2) + (9,439 x 9.8 x 63)
results in the middle section applying a kinetic force of energy about:
44,055,588.6 J onto the partially filled bow.
Sidney Daniels: "Two of her funnels (in this case, the 2nd and 3rd funnels from the coal explosion) fell off and after an explosion, which I distinctly heard being only a short distance away at that time, she smashed in the middle."
Carrie Chaffee: "it [The Titanic] seemed to writhe, breaking into the three parts in which it was divided. First the middle seemed to go down, lifting bow and stern into the air. Then it twisted the other way, throwing the middle up. Finally the bow went under, and it plunged, stern last."
End of class. The bow rose, and higher than previously assumed. The survivors and physics are correct.
www.encyclopedia-titanica.org
