1. Fill the saucepan with cold
What caused the can to water. Put 15 milliliters (1
collapse? When you heated tablespoon) of water into
We are so accustomed to the can you caused the water the empty soft-drink can.
the pressure of the air in it to boil. The vapor from
the boiling water pushed air
Heat the can on the
around us that we don't
out of the can. When the can kitchen stove to boil the
even notice it.
was filled with water water. When the water
However, the air pressure
vapor, you cooled it suddenly boils, a cloud of condensed
is large enough to crush a
by inverting it in water. Cooling vapor will escape from the
soda can. You can see the the can caused the water opening in the can. Allow
air crush a can in this vapor in the can to the water to boil for about
experiment. condense, creating a partial 30 seconds. Using the
For this experiment you vacuum. The extremely low
pressure of the partial vacuum
tongs, grasp the can and
will need:
inside the can made it possible quickly invert it and dip it
for the pressure of the air into the water in the pan.
an empty aluminum outside the can to crush it. The can will collapse
soft-drink can almost instantaneously.
a 2- or 3-liter (2- or 3-
quart) saucepan
a pair of kitchen tongs