What happens when you put a Styrofoam cup under a lot of pressure, like in the bottom of the ocean? Scientists have known for decades that the tiny air bubbles that help the cups keep drinks hot or cold burst when crushed under the pressure of the water, shrinking them into tiny cups. For years, people in cruises have had fun attaching decorated cups to equipment that is sent to the bottom of the ocean.
In order to raise awareness in my school district about the incoming polar project, we had a decorating cup competition. Student where asked to decorate an 8 oz cup that we could shrink. We made a coupe of promotional videos that were shown during announcements at school. Check them out here:
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Students got very excited and decorated their cups, as you can see by the pictures of these 8th graders.
Unfortunately, we cannot take all the cups that were decorated. We had to chose a few that will make the trip. Here is a video showing the decorated cups, a tribute to all the students that took time to paint the cups:
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Stay tuned as we follow the cups on their trip to Antarctica and back to Wisconsin!