Cartesian Diver Lab

beacon news article

7th graders Abby Wells and Kamryn Kingery make Cartesian Divers with the help of  Macy Winkler and Hannah Dougherty.

Chem Club member Allie Melton is excited!

Recently, Mrs. Lau’s 7^th grade Science classes visited the Chemistry Lab at PCHS where Mrs. Block and her Chemistry Club helped them create several Cartesian divers.  These divers must sink and rise in a closed bottle of water by changing the density and altering the buoyancy.  Students raced their divers with others to choose a representative for their hour and race to be the best of all three classes!!! 

Representing 1^st hour was :   Clayton Floyd with a close second going to Henry Arp

Representing 3^rd hour was :  Jenna Lawson
Representing 4^th hour was :  Alayna Moore

 The fastest diver went to:  CLAYTON FLOYD!!!!!!

Clayton Floyd had the fastest diver!

          Whether an object floats or sinks in a fluid depends on whether that object’s density is less than or greater than the density of the fluid.  If you add to the mass without changing its volume, a Cartesian diver’s density will increase and it will sink.  You can also increase the density of an object by keeping the mass constant while you decrease the object’s volume.

Boyle’s Gas Law states that as the pressure on a gas sample is increased, it gets compressed into a proportionately smaller volume.  Gas is easily compressed, whereas liquids and solids are not.  When the 2L bottle is squeezed, it compresses the air in the diver and water enters the empty space, increasing the density so that the diver sinks.  When you release the 2L bottle, the air in the diver expands and pushes out the water, changing the density of the diver again.

Thanks to Chemistry Club members for being Champions of Science: 

Hannah Dougherty, Alicia Robertson, Matt Wells, Allie Melton, Sabrina Cooley, Macy Winkler, Thomas Wells, Jessica Rice, Alexis Fiscus, Cody Christenberry, Emily Bierly, Whittney Forster, Austin Gahimer, Damon Daugherty, and  Rebecca Sexton.