Cartesian diver ’’tricks’’

Orwig, Lawrence P.

doi:10.1119/1.12346

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…If the pressure applied to the container is increased, the volume of air inside the diver decreases, providing room for more liquid, so that the diver average density increases causing it to sink (figure 1). Studying the properties of this toy in different educational versions allows introducing some concepts and laws of hydrodynamics such as pressure in fluids, ideal gas law, Archimede's principle, and Stevin and Pascal laws [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. Whatever the pressure applied, the Cartesian diver does not have a stable equilibrium point inside the liquid.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Cartesian diver to study oscillations and internal gravity waves in a stratified fluid

Carpineti,

Spongano,

Croccolo

et al. 2024

Eur. J. Phys.

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We propose a variation of the well-known Cartesian diver experiment where, instead of moving in a uniform fluid, the diver floats in a fluid stratified in density.In contrast to the original experiment, for a given external pressure the diver can stop in a stable equilibrium position within the fluid, at the depth where the surrounding density matches its own. By varying the applied pressure, the density of the diver changes and it moves until it reaches a new stable equilibrium condition at a different depth. When a sudden pressure pulse is applied, the diver, pushed off its equilibrium position, starts oscillating due to a restoring force that depends on the density gradient. The oscillations produce internal gravity waves that are typical of stratified fluids, when a portion of them is displaced and transmits its motion to the surrounding fluid. Although they are extremely difficult to observe, gravity waves are particularly interesting, as they typically occur in the atmosphere and in the stars. We propose a simple experiment and suggest a way to make the internal gravity waves visible. The experiment can be realized by students with easy-to-find household objects and used to improve their understanding of many concepts and laws of hydrodynamics, but also to introduce them to complex phenomena of general interest.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Cartesian diver to study oscillations and internal gravity waves in a stratified fluid

Carpineti,

Spongano,

Croccolo

et al. 2024

Eur. J. Phys.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This device has received renewed interest in the pedagogical physics literature [4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Nevertheless, no substantial novelty has been added, except for an in-depth mathematical analysis given by Güémez et al [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%