Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 10/22/2009 - 06:57
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Antarctic Undersea ROV 09

What is the purpose of all the holes in the side of SCINI?

Fred Clinton Winfield School

Fri, 10/23/2009 - 04:56

Michele Cross

Hey Fred!
Great question!! I'm sure Dr. Kim will want jump in on this one when they get back from the Bay of Sails. They don't have internet access out there. (Maybe I can get Bob, SCINI's designer, to answer!)
I can tell you this...there are 2 holes that are color coded with electrical tape, and those two holes are the holes to grab onto (into) to pick her up. I'll try to remember to take a picture to show you.
Think of it this way...what would happen if you took an empty water bottle (or even one that is 1/2 full), put the lid on and then put it in a pool. Would it sink or float??
Now, take that same bottle but take the lid off. If you were to take and hold it down under water, what happens? It fills with water, right?? All the air is forced OUT, so again, would it sink or float??
So now I'm asking you--why do YOU think SCINI was designed with holes?? Can you think of other reasons as well? But like I said, the engineers might want to answer this question when they get back.
Mrs. Cross

Thu, 11/05/2009 - 19:23

Stacy Kim

Hi Fred,
Did you think of a reason to put lots of holes in somethign that is going underwater?  Mrs. Cross gave you a good hint with her water bottle example.  It's to let the air out - with all the holes, water fills all the spaces where air would otherwise be trapped.  Pockets of air that could be compressed would let SCINI's buoyancy change as we increase depth, and that would make the vehicle hard to fly, as she would get heavier and heavier the deeper we went.
So this leads to another question. Part of SCINI are sealed off, with no holes to let water in (to keep the electronics dry and functioning).  Why do these not cause a buoyancy change problem?
Best, Stacy