Cartesian Diver Lab Report

A Cartesian Diver is and interesting science experiment that expresses the principles of Buoyancy, and the gas law known as “Boyles Law”. It is simply a 2 liter bottle that is filled with water, and has a Plastic Pipet with a brass nut attached to it. It is an easy, and fun way to demonstrate Buoyancy and the concepts of Chemistry to students. The Cartesian diver was named for the French philosopher and scientist René Descartes, who invented this marvelous experiment. The main science behind this experiment is Density. Density is simply how much mass a certain material has for a volume that is given. In other words, how tightly packed and object is. Two ways that density could be increased is by adding mass to an object without changing its volume, or by keeping the mass the same, and decreasing the object’s volume. Objects will only sink if they are denser than the substance they are in. So, by applying pressure to the bottle, it will increase the diver’s pressure, therefore

The first step was to buy a 2L bottle. After that, all of the liquid inside of the bottle had to be emptied, and the plastic labels on the outside, if any, had to be removed. Then, the bottle had to be filled to the very top with water. After completing this, the Plastic Pipet had to have the metal nut attached to it, and the Pipet had to be filled almost to the top with water. Then, an empty glass or cup had to be completely filled with water, and the Pipet had to be placed in it. The Plastic Pipet had to be able to just barely float on the surface. Since it just barely floated, it then had to be placed inside of the 2L bottle, and the bottle had to be sealed with the cap. After this, the bottle had to be squeezed, and the Pipet or “Diver” sank to the bottom. After testing it out to make sure it worked, the bottle and the Diver then had to be decorated. Refer to figures 1 and 2 for end