The Invisible Hand
By Holy Lindgren
My Idea
I am going to test to see what happens if you heat an empty aluminum can and then immerse it upside down in a pot of cold water.
Materials I will Need:
Not shown: Something to heat the can with
Hypothesis
When I cool the can in the water, it creates an imbalance between the air pressure inside the can and the air pressure outside the can.
The Procedure
- Gather all of the needed materials
- Fill the bowl with cold water
- Heat the aluminum can (get a parent to help you!)
- Use the tongs to pick up the can
- Place it upside down in the cold water
- Observe what happens
Results
Bang! The can was completely crushed. It was like a strong person squeezed it really hard with their hands
Conclusion
My hypothesis was right because I thought that the can would be crushed. I will be sure to think again before messing around with air pressure!
Resources
- Singleton, Glen, 101 Cool Science Experiments, Hinkler Books, 2004
- Wikipedia - Atmospheric Pressure (2016 Jan 6, 20:57 UTC [cited 2016 Jan 11])
- National Weather Service - JetStream - Air Pressure (2012 May 15 [cited 2016 Jan 11])