October 24th: Squishing Cups!

Squishing cups!

Have you ever seen what happens to polystyrene cups when you sink them to 4km below the surface of the sea?  We gave friends and families a chance to find out!

Because of the hydrostatic pressure of water all around the cup, at such great depths the cup is squashed into a fraction of its original size! When the cup comes back up again, it doesn’t recover.. instead it remains miniature!  As does anything that you draw or write on it!

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Cups after being squished! (photo Kate Hendry) Thanks to children from the Montgomery Church in Wales Primary School and 184th Redland Brownie Pack, Bristol, for their wonderful cups!

2 Comments on “October 24th: Squishing Cups!

  1. like the experiment with the cups. Will you bring back the squished cups and return to the children that made such beautiful cups for this experiment. I would think that they would love seeing what the ocean does to their artwork at 4 km below the surface of the ocean.
    Great job children, future researchers. Go team.

  2. Do you know Carolyn taylor? Well she is my auntie. I thought the experiment was very interesting and I would be very happy to see my cup again. I would like to be a scientist when I grow up. I can see my cup in the photo and it is squished! Thank you!

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