5/54 The Incredible Can Crusher

  I loved this next experiment. I did something that every science nerd loves to do, make an implosion!  When I woke up this morning I immediately encountered a problem. For this particular experiment, you need a hot plate. I thought we had one in our possession but apparently not. Even though we did not have the right tool, I was determined to do an experiment today. So I took an empty can and filled it with just enough water to cover the bottom of the can. I am supposed to put the can on a hot plate but since I did not have one, with my parents permission, put the can on a pan with a little water in it on the stove. With my dad’s supervision, I turned on the stove. What I was going to do is when I heard the water boiling inside the can I would wait one minute. Then I would take tongs, grab the can, and quickly flip the open end into cold water and that would result in an implosion. Hoping my substitution would work, I waited anxiously for the water to boil. As expected the water in the pan boiled easily.

  

After a while, the water inside the can did not boil. I decided that I would try it out anyway. I grabbed the kitchen tongs, seized the can at the bottom, and flipped it into the ice cold water.

 

It did not work! The can was intact!  The simple explanation was that we just could not get the can hot enough to boil the water.

  So after some discussion my dad suggested to put the can directly on the flames. At first I was a little nervous about it but willing to try.

So that is what I did and almost immediately that beautiful noise of boiling water emitted from the can and after a minute I put the can flat into the water.

POP! SNAP! CRACK! The beautiful noise erupted from the can at once.

My dad, being the engineer that he is, gave me an interesting mathematical explanation of what is happening here. I won’t go into details but here are the basics of it.

  When you boil water the steam rising up is water in gas form called water vapor. Water vapor fills the can pushing out the air. When we all of the sudden put the can in cold water, that water vapor turns into water droplets again which takes up less space. The little droplets of water cannot push on the sides of the can like air can. Thus the pressure of the air outside of the can is greater than that of the pressure inside of the can. As a result the can crushes! It’s scientific!!! 

  These are the calculations that my dad put on a white board to help explain the experiment. I love it when he talks about science to me!

  After the lesson was done my brother wanted to try. He was very happy about that.

 

I had other cans to crush so I wanted to show you what happens when you do not put the can flat on the bottom of the pan.

The can just sucked up the water and there was not a dent in the can.

I had too much fun crushing all of the cans I could find.

     I will say that you should not do any experiment without a procedure for safety. I carefully read this experiment over and over to make sure that I and others would be safe. I also had adult supervision. As with every experiment, have fun!!

4/54 Do Not Open Bottle

  Today’s experiment was short and wet. What you are supposed to do is take a water bottle, take off the label, and write “DO NOT OPEN” on it. Then you take a thumb tack and punch holes in the bottle about an inch from the bottom. “Then the water will pour out” you say…… well that would be true if you had the cap off! You see the reason the bottle leaks water is because there is air to replace the water escaping the bottle. But if there is no way for air to get into the bottle (like with the cap on) and with the assistance of the water’s wonderful surface tension, the water will not leak out.

  Anyway once you punch the holes you set it on the counter and wait for a person to open the “Do not open bottle” and wait for  science to happen.

  But in my case I couldn’t wait with the camera for someone to just pop by and open the bottle. I need pictures for you guys! I just decided to trick my brother into thinking I couldn’t open my bottle of water. While reading the experiment, I carefully plotted Christopher’s doom.

  I went into the next room and poked holes in the water bottle. It was surprisingly really easy!

I did get a little wet because even the slightest squeeze sends many streams of water towards your torso.

“Christopher, I need a hand!” I innocently called, "I can’t open this bottle for my experiment.”

“Fine.” he replied. He took the bottle and did what I feared. He squeezed it!

“There’s a hole in this bottle!”

“Really?” I said with a pretend gasp.

He went over to the sink and opened it.

He knew what was happening and didn’t get wet.

He gave the bottle back to me. But I was determined he would get wet on this day! ATTACK!

I chased Christopher around the house squeezing the bottle getting him very wet. Becoming desperate he took his Bronco hat and beat me with it.

Failing to keep himself dry, he tried to take the bottle but we playfully “struggled” to take it from each other squeezing the bottle even more getting us even more wet.

ALAS! Outmatched by height and strength he took the bottle and I did not survive! (Queue dramatic music)

 

  In all seriousness, I had a great time learning so much about this experiment. I had seen Mr. Spangler do this experiment at the conference where I met him. I was excited to do it myself!!

A Big Christmas Gift for Me.

Hello everyone! I hope you had a great time celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and a great time with family!

  I got a very special gift from my parents this year that has to do with my science adventure.

  Before I started this journey through Steve Spangler’s books I went through every experiment to find out what  materials I needed. Then my mom snuck into my room and looked at the books for the list of materials. On Christmas morning I opened three large packages that contained ALL THE MATERIALS I NEEDED FOR MY EXPERIMENTS!!!!!!!

  It had everything from a foam head to acetone. Mentos, a Lazy Susan, a big plastic bucket, four bottles of H2O2 (Hydrogen Peroxide), foam insulation, Atomic Glow, mesh screens, and so much more!!!

  I was so surprised, happy, and pleased that I didn’t need to shop for materials! I could do my experiments as I please without waiting to go to the store!

  I would like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Nagy for providing a Lazy Susan, plastic mesh, diapers, and for helping my mom sneak materials to my house and both of my parents for putting in the time to search, buy, and put together my Kit of Science Awesomeness!

I am SO happy with all of my packing peanuts and Total cereal and things!! (Cat not included)

  

Between the foam head and the Arm and Hammer washing soda you can see graduated cylinders that go from 1,000mL cylinder all the way down to 10mL cylinder (Fantastic!).

Merry Christmas everyone!

3/54 Flying Potatoes— Take #3–Materials, Camera, Action!

  If you have been following me for awhile then you know that I have been having some trouble with this particular experiment. One of the problems was that my PVC pipe didn’t have a sharp enough end. Eventually we found out that the inside of the pipe was not smooth. Thus, the little crevices let a lot of air pass in between the potato and the pipe not giving the air pressure that I desperately needed to accomplish this experiment.

   So I decided to get a different kind of pipe that had a smoother inside. As I have said before, Mr. Spangler had also suggested a clear, hard plastic pipe so that we could see what was going on inside. With a quick trip to Home Depot, we searched the long aisles for the desired pipe. With some kindly help we found where the plastic pipes were. We looked at them and the plastic was not hard, it was bendable. That would simply not do! But in the next aisle we found some different kinds of metal pipes. We picked up a two foot copper pipe and we felt the inside and, with satisfaction, it was as smooth as glass. Ta-da! The employees had probably not seen a fifteen year old girl walk out with a pipe in her hand, giggling with satisfaction.

  

So shiny!

  I made a little adjustment to the dowel rod because the pipe was two feet instead of sixteen inches. It shouldn’t be a problem. If anything it would have more room to compress the air and would have a better result. Plus I didn’t want to attempt to cut that rod!

  Anyway, the stopper was moved down to just under twenty-five inches.

  Then you know the drill. I punched two pieces of potato into the copper pipe. The ends were already sharp enough to get through the potato easily. With my safety goggles on and my confidence high I was ready.

  I went outside and braved the bitter cold and melting snow (Yes, we do get snow in New Mexico).  I positioned my dowel rod and pushed. And then……..POW!!!!!!!

VICTORY!!!!!

  The potato finally flew through the air. The sound of the ”pow” was music to my ears. Seeing the potato become a tasty projectile was a sight of accomplishment. I did the launch over and over because the victory was too sweet to do once.

  So it turns out it was the pipe itself that was the problem.

  Wow. These past few weeks  have been one of learning. It just shows that not all experiments go as planned the first time but you try to figure out what went wrong and learn from it. I have learned lessons in perseverance and problem solving (it was so much fun!). Though I felt discouraged at one point, I loved doing this experiment but I do have to say I am ready to move on.