About This Lesson
The ocean floor in particular is home to unique marine organisms, as well as enormous geological features like volcanoes, canyons, and ridgelines. In order to take full advantage of these opportunities for discovery, scientists and explorers must first overcome one of the biggest challenges of deep ocean exploration: extreme pressure. How extreme? An ROV diving to a depth of 2,000m experiences over 1,270kg (2,800lbs) of force exerted on each square inch of its surface! In these conditions, compression, or the squeezing out of air in something, is a phenomenon that occurs. This can be dangerous for people and technical devices at these depths and needs to be avoided in underwater exploration. This activity allows students to observe the affects of deep ocean pressure and the compressibility of certain materials.
