Collapsing Can Lab

Molecules, cans, collapsing, oh my! Air pressure is something that we humans rely on day after day. The air pressure in the earth keeps us from imploding, or exploding. If our pressure inside our body is greater than the pressure outside, we will explode. If the air pressure outside our body is greater than inside, we will implode. I know this because I experimented with air pressure by using a simple soda can. First off, we all know that when you shake a soda can, the air pressure inside gets greater. If it gets too great, it will explode! But do we normally see a can implode? Of course not! But I had a chance to see! What we did was we put some water into an empty soda can, and heated it until it boiled. That way the molecules in the soda can were all over and were expanding. That increased the air pressure. But when we quickly inverted it into a bowl of ice cold water, the air suddenly cooled down, which made the air pressure decrease. The air pressure outside of the can was wayyyyyyy more than the air pressure inside of the can, which made it implode! (It also made a really cool noise)! This example of air pressure can really help scientists experiment with air pressure!