Compression of fruit at depth

[Ed Palma]

Good question actually! I bet there's some maths behind that one! Try taking a tomato down to 20 meters on your next dive! It will turn into a tiny purple ball like a grape NO JOKE - then turns back into a tomato

This is an off-shoot of a thread regarding the pressure of CO2 in a can of soda. This topic was brought up, and just to test it, here are my results:

Take a tomato (yes, it's a fruit - not a vegetable):

Take a desktop pressure pot:

Place tomato in pot and pressurize along with depth gauge. Note that the depth rating in the upper LCD display of my watch is in meters:

Big answer: Nothing happens! Being mostly water, tomatoes remain non-compressible at depth. So, myth busted

As you can see from the gauge attached to the pot, pressure is at around 4.5 bar, or 65 PSI.

 

[Ed Palma]

As promised, video attached:



You can hear as the air comes in and my watch complain of the rapid depth change. But as you can see, nothing happens to the tomato.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

Cool!

If you are playing try a styrofoam cup.

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

thanks for posting

 

[helimvee]

Can't you be like MythBusters and have it blow up at the end?

 

[Ed Palma]

Can't you be like MythBusters and have it blow up at the end?

If I don't monitor the amount of compressed air I pump into the pot, it will!


(But I need my pot to test my lights...)

 

[Sas]

I am disappointed it didn't turn into a tiny purple grape at depth and then back into a tomato after ascending, I have to say.

 

[idocsteve]

This is so weird!

I was just sitting here, thinking about nothing in particular.. and then I found myself wondering if I went Scuba Diving with a tomato in my BCD pocket what would happen, and then I clicked on "New Posts" and here it is!

What are the odds

 

[Ed Palma]

I am disappointed it didn't turn into a tiny purple grape at depth and then back into a tomato after ascending, I have to say.

Are you still going to try this in the ocean?

 

[halocline]

The real question, if fruit did shrink at depth, and you ate it at depth, would you still be hungry?

Your pressure pot looks like an R.O./D.I. filter canister. Do you have an aquarium?