Get Your Science On: Cartesian Diver
In this episode of “Get Your Science On”, Nicole shares a great little experiment you can make with some catchup packets and a plastic bottle filled with water. This also makes a great party trick!
What’s Going On?
Ketchup is just slightly denser than water, but each packet also has a bubble of air trapped inside. When you squeeze the bottle, you can’t compress the water or the ketchup, but you can compress the air bubble and make the packet more dense so it sinks. Because the amount of air in ketchup packets varies, you might need to try a few different ones before you find some that work.
What would happen if you tried this with liquids besides pure water, like rubbing alcohol or salt water? Try it and see!
