atmosphere

Egg into Flask

This classic physics demonstration is used to show the effects of pressure difference between the atmosphere and a cooling volume of air. With a set of clean apparatus, you can even have the egg for a snack after that.

Materials

  1. Hard-boiled Egg
  2. Flask or glass bottle with mouth smaller than the egg
  3. Paper measuring about 2 cm by 5 cm
  4. Lighter

Procedure

  1. Peel the hard-boiled egg.
  2. Light the piece of paper and drop it into the flask.
  3. Place the peeled egg on the mouth of the flask such that the egg seals the flask.
  4. Observe the egg being sucked in while the flame dies.

Explanation

When the burning paper enters the flask, it causes the air within the flask to heat up and expand, with some escaping from the flask. When the egg seals the flask, the flame dies as the paper is about to be burned up while oxygen is also running out.

The air then cools down and the pressure within the flask drops. The pressure due to the atmosphere acting downward on the egg is then greater than that acting upward due to the pressure of the cooling air. This pushes the egg into the bottle.

Water in an Inverted Cup

This demonstration can be modified for use as a magic trick.

Materials:

  1. Glass of water
  2. Piece of cardboard that is larger than the mouth of the glass.

Procedure:

  1. Fill the glass up with water.
  2. Place the piece of cardboard over the mouth of the glass.
  3. Holding the cardboard against the mouth of the glass, invert the glass.
  4. Release the hand slowly.

Explanation

Water can remain in an inverted glass with the piece of cardboard underneath because atmospheric pressure is acting upward on the cardboard, holding it up together with the water. There is little air pressure within the g;ass, so the downward force acting on the cardboard is mainly the weight of the water, which is to the order of several newtons whereas atmospheric pressure exert an upward force of several thousand newtons.

Modification:

  1. Drill a small hole in a plastic cup, near the base.
  2. Seal the hole with your thumb and fill the cup with water.
  3. Place the cardboard over the mouth of the cup.
  4. Invert the cup together with the cardboard, while keeping your thumb over the hole.
  5. Using a magic word as the cue, shift your thumb slightly to allow a little air into the cup. This will cause the cardboard and water to fall. As the air pressure within the cup is equal to that of the atmosphere.