Real-Life Experiments of Pressure

Here are some experiments using pressure:

Cartesian Diver Experiment

Objective: This proves the buoyancy effect of the pressure.

Materials: Make-shift science equipment: a plastic bottle, water, a dropper or pipette, and a small object such as a paperclip, for example.

Procedure:

1. Stuff water into plastic bottles.
2. Place a small object, like a paperclip or a clip, at the base of the dropper or pipette.
3. To increase the pressure inside, press the bottle.
4. Drop the dropper with the attached object completely into the water.

Observation: Squeezing the bottle, pressure is created inside which leads to dropper compression which is connected to the sinker object. When you let the air out from the dropper, it starts expanding, lifting the object.

Explanation: The higher pressure inside the dropper compacts the air, increasing the density of air in the dropper and thus, causing it to sink. Lifting the load allows the air inside the dropper to increase in volume. This makes the air less dense, which causes the dropper to be lighter than the surrounding fluid and float.

Crushed Can Experiment

Objective: Sealed vessels are used to illustrate the impact of air pressure.

Materials: Soda can from an aluminum can, stove or hot plate, tongs, and a basin of cold water.

Procedure:

1. Get your bowl and fill it with cold water, please keep it aside.
2. Add a very small amount of water over the can.
3. Heat a can on a stove or hot plate until the brew inside begins to boil.
4. Grab the can by the tongs and tilt it up, releasing it so the open end goes into the water.

Observation: It can collapse inward so that the sound resembles “pop”.

Explanation: The heat inside the tin boils the water and it evaporates, forming water vapor. This is similar to what happens inside the can as when we invert it and place it in the cold water steam rapidly changes into the liquid state on the outside of the can creating a vacuum inside it. In this case, the external air pressure will flatten the can, thus destroying the packaging.

Balloon and Bottle Experiment

Objective: To show the effects of temperature, pressure, and volume on each other.

Materials: Here, the materials needed are a balloon, a plastic bottle having a narrow neck, hot water, and cold water.

Procedure:

1. Blow up the balloon and then fix it firmly to the opening of the bottle.
2. Put the bottle in hot water for a few minutes.
3. Now, take out the bottle from the boiling water and plunge it into the ice-cold water.

Observation: The balloon expands when it is next to hot water and shrinks when it is put near the cold water.

Explanation: The inside air is heated up which increases the rate of air molecules and results in the balloon exerting more pressure, consequently inflating it. It means that if the inside of the bottle is being cooled, the temperature decreases which causes the balloon to deflate by lowering its pressure.

Siphon Experiment

Objective: To show through experimental data the siphon phenomena brought about by the pressure differences.

Materials: The equipment consists of two tanks and a tube or hose and water.

Procedure:

1. Have a container filled with water and place it in a way that is higher than the other container.
2. The first step is to immerse only one end of the tube into the water of a higher container and keep the other end out.
3. Pump the tube’s end using the mouth to begin absorbing the water.

Observation: Water flows from the elevated container to the lower container that is connected to the tube.

Explanation: At first, the process of sucking from the tube will cause the thumb to create a negative pressure, which causes the atmospheric pressure to act on the air column and push the water up the tube. As the wheel begins to turn, gravity ensures the downward flow as the support for the tube in the upper container stays below the water level.

Pressure is the force applied to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. The SI unit of pressure is pascal (Pa). 1 Pa is one newton of force applier per square meter of area. Pressure may also be expressed in terms of standard atmospheric pressure.

In this article, we are going to learn about some real-life applications of pressure.