USS New Hampshire Conducts STEM Experiment for Students

USS New Hampshire Conducts STEM Experiment for Students
By: Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Alfred Coffield
 
Students from the Coastal Preparatory Academy in Scotts Hill, North Carolina recently participated in a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) experiment with Sailors assigned to the Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS New Hampshire (SSN 778) homeported at Naval Station Norfolk.
 
To test what would happen to Styrofoam cups when exposed to sea pressure, the students decorated more than 20 foam cups with rainbow colors, bright flowers, bursting stars, and happy faces, and sent them to USS New Hampshire.
 
New Hampshire Sailors took the cups they received from the class underway, and returned with miniaturized versions of the same foam cups.
 
Lt. Cmdr. Ryan Stewart, the Executive Officer aboard New Hampshire, said chemistry and composition played a part in why Styrofoam cups shrink when diving.
 
“Styrofoam cups are made of plastic, polystyrene to be specific, and each Styrofoam bead has air inside of it,” Stewart said. “We place the cups inside a mesh bag outside the pressure hull. As we descend, the water pressure increases approximately 44 pounds per square inch every 100 feet. The Sailors onboard don't feel any change since we're inside the pressure hull, which is basically a giant steel tube, while the cups stay on the outside.
 
Stewart further explained how the cups change in size due to sea pressure.
 
“The pressure squeezes the beads, pressing all the air out of them. The end result is a miniature cup that looks the same as the original,” Stewart said. “The beads are permanently reshaped, and retain their new smaller size forever. Many of these cups are decorated before being shrunk, and provide interesting keepsakes.”
 
Sea pressure deep in the ocean can be compared to changes in air pressure with altitude. For example, the same way pressure changes in air as elevation increases, water pressure changes as people and objects descend in the ocean.
 
In a letter written to the class, Master Chief Sonar Technician (submarine) Joel Singletary, Chief of the Boat for USS New Hampshire, had this to say to the students:
 
“Your cups have made a journey on the finest war chariot in the US Naval Fleet to depths beneath the briny foam where dizziens and creatures of all kinds roam. They have swam with the mermaids and dolphins as escort to Davey Jones Locker in the Spanish Main. There they encountered the wreckage of Spanish Galleons, British Frigates and pirate sloops. They caught the eye of sea turtles and manta as they rode the Atlantic Ocean’s super high way, the Gulf Stream.”
 
Navy STEM programs support education and outreach programs with a goal to inspire, engage, and educate the next generation of scientists, engineers, and technology and medical professionals.
 
Virginia-class submarines are built to operate in today’s challenging undersea environment across a wide array of missions to include: anti-submarine warfare; anti-surface ship warfare; strike warfare; mine warfare; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions; electronic warfare; special operations warfare; and battlegroup operations.

Virginia-class submarine design includes improved littoral environment capabilities, sensors, Special Operations Forces (SOF) capabilities, and strike options making it an ideal platform for the post-Cold War modern security environment ensuring asymmetric capability to combat current and future threats