Cartesian Diver

Cartesian Diver

The purpose of the Cartesian diver is to demonstrate the compressibility of a gas, the incompressibility of water, Boyle's law, Pascal's law, and Archimedes' law. Boyle's Law states that under conditions of constant temperature and quantity, there is an inverse relationship between the volume and pressure for an ideal gas. Pascal's Law states that if pressure is applied to a non-flowing fluid in a container, then that pressure is transmitted equally in all directions within the container. Archimedes' principles is an upward force on an object immersed in a fluid (a liquid or a gas), enabling it to float or at least to appear to become lighter. If the buoyancy exceeds the weight, then the object floats; if the weight exceeds the buoyancy, the object sinks. It was Archimedes who first discovered buoyancy

(also known as Archimedes' principle). The buoyant force is equal to the weight of the displaced fluid.

The Cartesian diver shows that air is compressable and water is incompressable because when you squeeze the contanir the pressure you caused is distrubited equal throughout the container (Pascal’s law) and the volume of air in the pipet decreases because of the increased pressure of the water surrounding the pipet (Boyle’s law). Since the the volume of air inside the pipet decreased, and water filled up where