If you take a styrofoam cup into the deep sea, the immense water pressure will squeeze all the air out of the cups compressing them into miniature versions of the original cup. The deeper the ROV goes, the smaller the cups get as more air is squeezed out. Prior to departing, we packed cups decorated by three classes from local schools: the Busy Bee Class at Miss Barbara’s Preschool in Marina, and Mrs. People’s kindergarten and Mr. Hood’s fourth grade class at Valencia Elementary in Aptos. Today, the ROV Doc Ricketts took those cups down to 1,100 meters water depth. While the Doc Ricketts can go much deeper, this is the deepest dive for this expedition. We can’t wait to return the beautiful shrunken cups to their owners once we’re back on shore! Learn more about the physics behind shrinking cups!