Teach Engineering
Cartesian Diver
Amaze your scholars with an activity that uses a Cartesian diver to demonstrate Pascal's Law, Archimedes' Principle, and the Ideal Gas Law. Groups then repeat the process and make their own diver move up and down in a bottle.
Royal Society of Chemistry
A Cartesian Diver—Classic Chemistry Experiments
Sometimes the simplest experiments leave the biggest impression! Introduce young chemists to the Cartesian Diver by having them make one of their own. Use the Diver to further their study of liquids and gases, as well as compression.
Curated OER
The World's Simplest Cartesian Diver
Have your class learn about buoyancy using this simple lesson plan. First, they bring in condiment packets and see what happens when they place it in a glass of water. Then, they use one of the packets to illustrate the concept of a...
Exploratorium
Descartes' Diver
Pique interest in water pressure, demonstrate buoyancy, and explore water displacement concepts with a homemade Cartesian diver. You may want to change the name of the toy, however, as is is not documented the Rene Descartes actually...
University of Waikato
Buoyancy in Water
Change where an object floats in water. Pupils experiment with a Cartesian diver by squeezing on the side of a plastic bottle. Learners pay attention to the bulb of the pipette as the bottle is squeezed to determine what is happening...
Curated OER
Cartesian Diver Lab
In this Cartesian diver lab, students explain using text and diagrams how the Cartesian diver works. Students evaluate ways in making their lab design better. Students make predictions of how changing the variable would change the...
Curated OER
Activity #15 The Cartesian diver
Learners comprehend that the Cartesian diver is a dropper and the water and air inside it. They vary the volume of the air and the amount of water, the diver can be made to be either more or less dense than water. Pupils squeeze the...
Curated OER
Ups and Downs of Diving
Students explore the science and sport of scuba diving. In this scuba diving lesson, students build Cartesian divers and observe their behavior under water pressure.
Cornell University
Buoyancy
Swimmers know to float by turning their bodies horizontally rather than vertically, but why does that make a difference? In an interesting lesson, scholars explore buoyancy and the properties of air and water. They test cups to see which...
Curated OER
Pressure, Density and Buoyancy
Students investigate how changing pressure affects density. In this physics lesson plan, students explain the relationship between density and pressure. They observe the Cartesian diver in the lab as pressure is changed inside.
Curated OER
Condiment Diver
Students create a Cartesian diver out of a bottle of water and a condiment packet (soy sauce, ketchup, etc.) They observe what happens to the packet as they squeeze the bottle and determine which types of condiment packets make the best...
Curated OER
Condiment Diver: The World's Simplest Cartesian Diver
Middle schoolers examine buoyancy. In this density instructional activity students form a hypothesis, collect data and draw a conclusion using the data.
Curated OER
Density Phenomena-Using the Concept of Density
Students investigate the concept of density by observing demonstrations. In this density lesson plan, students make observations while the teacher demonstrates the Cartesian diver, a density column, a candle trough, a wave bottle, an...
Curated OER
Air Pressure
Students examine air pressure. In this air pressure lesson, students perform a series of experiments to evaluate the effects of air pressure.
Curated OER
Build Your Own Submarine
Students construct their own submarine following a certain procedure. In this physics lesson, students calculate the density of objects using a mathematical formula. They explain why some object floats in water while some do not.
Curated OER
Condiment Diver: The World's Simplest Cartesian Diver
Students explain what density is in their own words. For this physics lesson, students perform the condiment experiment and explain why some float and some sink. They share their findings in class.
Curated OER
Strength of Water
Students perform experiments using flexible bottles of water and eyedroppers partially filled and placed in the bottle. They record what happens when they tighten the bottle lid and squeeze the bottle.
Curated OER
Liquid Pressure
Fifth graders create a Cartesian Diver model made from plastic soap bottle and medicine dropper. In this incompressible liquid lesson, 5th graders experiment with jugs of water to demonstrate Pascal's Law, Boyle's Law and Archimedes'...
US Navy
The Science of Diving
Introduce gas laws using the popular topic of SCUBA diving. This activity makes a connection between the gas laws and the effect of pressure and temperature changes during diving. Young engineers complete introductory experiments to...
Anglophone School District
Fluids: Force in Fluids
Discuss Archimedes' Principle and fluid forces with your young scientists as they describe the relationship between mass, volume, and density during a series of engaging activities. They use the Participle Theory of Matter to explore the...
Cornell University
Density
Certain things just do not mix, including liquids of varying densities. Learners collect data to determine the densities of several liquids. They then use the density information to predict the type of liquid.
Curated OER
Sinking and Floating
Learners examine why some objects float or sink. In this physics lesson, students engage in several mini-experiments which challenge them to draw their own conclusions regarding why certain objects sink or float. An example of one...
Curated OER
Using the Combined Gas Law
In this combined gas law worksheet, students use the relationship between temperature, pressure and volume to complete a table using the combined gas law. They find volumes, pressure and temperature of substances given two of the...
Curated OER
Comparing Solids, Liquids, and Gases
For this solids, liquids and gases worksheet, students observe a teacher demonstration about gases and they experiment with liquids to show diffusion, shape and volume. They answer nine questions about the experiments related to solids,...