The collapsing can experiment is one of the most exciting demonstrations of atmospheric pressure ever created for science classrooms. To perform the experiment, a small amount of water is poured into an empty aluminum soda can. The can is then placed over a heat source like a stove burner until the water boils vigorously.
As the water boils, it turns into water vapor. This boiling steam rapidly pushes all the cold, heavier air out of the open mouth of the can. Once the interior is filled entirely with hot water vapor, the can is quickly gripped with metal tongs, flipped completely upside down, and plunged into a bowl of ice cold water.
The sudden drop in temperature causes the water vapor inside the can to instantly condense back into a few drops of liquid water. Because liquid takes up hundreds of times less volume than gas, this sudden condensation creates a near vacuum inside the container.
With almost no gas molecules left pushing outward from inside, the heavy weight of Earth's atmosphere presses inward. The surrounding air pressure, which weighs roughly fourteen point seven pounds per square inch at sea level, crushes the aluminum can completely flat in a fraction of a second.
#scienceexperiment #physics #sciencefacts #education #stem #learnscience #pressure
Disclaimer: This video is for informational and educational purposes only. The information comes from public science educational materials, and imagery is used to illustrate the concept.
