Why Does A Can Collapse When A Vacuum Pump Removes Air From The Can?
Physicists study heat to understand how objects behave at various temperatures. Heat is a type of energy, and heat measures how much energy a thing possesses. The study of heat is, in reality, the study of the atoms and molecules that comprise a thing. Because atoms have more energy, the faster they move, the higher the temperature. (The image depicts children acting like hot atoms.)
Heat may be produced in a variety of ways. One method is to burn. The components of the burning item undergo chemical transformations, releasing energy in the process. Friction may also generate heat (rubbing). Try rubbing your hands together and seeing how heated they become; when the atoms and molecules in both of these circumstances heat up, they move about more.
Temperature is measured in degrees Fahrenheit in the United States (oF). Water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit and boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit (at sea level). In most other nations, the temperature is measured in degrees Celsius (C). Water freezes at 0o C and boils at 100o C in Celsius. Temperatures are measured in Kelvins (K) by scientists.
When we remove heat energy from anything, it becomes chilly. Anything that can reach the lowest temperature is -460o F. (-273o C or 0 Kelvin); this is known as absolute zero. At this temperature, practically everything is solidly frozen, even the air we inhale. Objects, on the other side, can potentially get as hot as they want. Stars are the sexiest ones we learned. They have temperatures in the tens of millions of degrees.
Physics behind The Experiment
When heated, the water within the can boils and exits. When the can is submerged in cold water, a partial vacuum is formed, crushing it.
Why Does A Can Collapse When a Vacuum Pump Removes Air from the Can?
The collapse can show that objects constrict or shrink as they get chilly. It also demonstrates that pressure is exerted by the atmosphere. That is because air has weight; the air surrounding us pushes on everything. The pressure of air at sea level is approximately 15 pounds per square inch (psi). That is almost 150 pounds of pressure exerted alone on your hand! Because the pressure is the same everywhere, you don’t notice it.
A small amount of regular water is placed in an aluminum can. After that, the can is warmed over a flame or hot griddle. When water heats up, it boils and transforms into vapor. Steam is a gas, like air, but water is a liquid. Because gases take up more room than liquids, we call them less dense. So whenever the water is boiling, it might fill with steam, forcing the air out.
When the can is full of steam, it is flipped upside down and placed in a pan of cold water; this is no longer available for two causes. First, water seals the can’s entrance, rendering it impermeable. Thus, no more air can escape. Second, because the water is cold, it quickly cools the steam in the container. When it gets cool, it condenses back into the water. Water, on the other hand, takes up less area than steam. Because no air can enter to take up the increased space, something else would have to give: the can shrink.
When the water condenses, it takes up less space than the steam. As a result, the pressure within the chamber decreases. The air pressure outside the container is now significantly higher than the pressure within the can. If all of the air within the can is gone, that’s 700 pounds pushing on the can’s sides! It’s no surprise that the can is smashed.
Car Engines and Ethanol Gas Cans
A spark strikes an ethanol-vapor-filled bottle, causing the cork to fly off; this replicates the operation of a car’s combustion engine
; this is similar to how a spark plug works. The spark ignites the fuel in the chamber, resulting in an explosion that raises the pressure in the bottle and blasts off the cork.
You may be aware that automobiles now operate on ethanol rather than gasoline. An automobile engine functions in the same way as an exploding bottle does. Gasoline or ethanol enters the engine and reacts with oxygen. An explosion occurs when a spark from the spark plug ignites the mixture; like the cork in the bottle, drives the piston out. The pistons are connected to the wheels, which revolve to propel the automobile forward. The detonation in the bottle is analogous to a single-cylinder vehicle engine.
How do you Remove Atmospheric Pressure?
When the weather is quite warm, moist and approaches precipitation or storms, it indicates a decrease in atmospheric pressure. In this case, turn off your exhaust fans or reduce the running ones.
Bottom Line
Boyle’s Law expresses the connection involving gas volume and pressure. A gas’s volume changes proportionally with its tension. When a can is filled with water vapor, the pressure inside the can exceeds the tension just outside of the can. When submerged in water, the water plugs the hole, and the vapor within the can condenses, lowering the pressure inside the can and crushing it.
