Water Pressure

[DrCarioca]

Let’s say you take an empty, 5-gallon jerry can, put it on a rope (with some weights) and lower it 2,000 feet into the ocean. When you bring it back up it will be completely squashed. Now, if you fill the jerry can with water and lower it 2,000 feet into the ocean, it will come back up intact. What would happen if you put a ping-pong ball inside the full jerry can and lowered it down? Would the closed-in ambiance of the water in the can protect the ball from being squashed?

Regards,

David Daniel

[Rev. Green]

No.

[jake-the-peg]

Brcause water is pretty much incompressible.

So when you lower the can the water inside resists the water pressure outside.
2,000 feet is what? 600m thats about 60 atmospheres of pressure inside the can resisting 60 atmosheres outside.

Bbut air is very compressible so the ping pong ball is crushed until it is roughly a 60th of the volume (assuming it's a "perfect" gas and there's no change in temperature)

[beso]

The jerry can would be slightly crushed to the extent that its volume is reduced by the volume of the pingpong ball which will be a flatter than a tack. However the jerry can may recover its original shape since it won't have been deformed beyond the elastic limit of the steel.

[jomifl]

all answers correct so far.nothing to add

[jomifl]

can you explain what you mean by 'closed in ambiance' as it sounds more theatrical than technical