PRESSURE AT OCEAN DEPTHS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1431, 4 May 1912, Page 11

PRESSURE AT OCEAN DEPTHS.

Sir,—There seems to be quite an erroneous impression as to the sinking of material in ocean depths. It seems generally believed that at certain depths things will ceaso to sink, and float on perpetually, but this is quits a wrong idea. What would sink in a tumbler of water would sink to the bottom of the ocean, how ever many miles deep. Tho reason is that water does not compress. A cubic foot of water, at tho bottom of ten miles of ocean, is not heavier (if it could be cut out) than the same area at tho surface, nor is it any less liquid. An article to sink, must be heavier than its own bulk of water, and hence, if it is capable of sinking, iu shallow water, it will continue doing so in deep water, for it is still heavier than its own bulk. The pressure above does not affect the matter. Anything lighter than its own bulk would naturally have au increased tendency to float up, ■ and if compressible would be squeezed flat, if it was dragged down to great depths. Tho pressure might cause a slowness in sinking, by reason of the water having to move aside to let the object pass, and so the sinking subject would seek the line of least resistance, wherever possible, like a penny, when it slides and slithers as it sinks down. Wo know that the dint of the ocean sinks to the bottom, for that i 3 how the chalk beds are formed, and the fish of great depths are not made of certain substance, but of' ordinary fish flesh. So there is no doubt that tho wreck of a vessel will drop quietly down till it reaches the sublime calm of the peace of the ocean bed. -I am, etc., C. W. TANNER. 208 Lambton Quay . April i, 1912.