Tag Archives: pressure

In the December CoolStuff newsletter, Bridgette Sparks of Saline High School in Michigan talks about using a discovery based lab exercise for the topic of pressure.
In my classroom I ask the students to calculate the net force on the can by giving them the dimensions of the can and an estimate of the reduced pressure in the can [...]

Bottle rocket launchers can be a great way to increase interest as your class kicks off this Fall. We’ve collected some tips for how to get more out of these rocket powered demonstrations and launch your students into the world of force and motion in full Cool Stuff fashion.

Hold a friendly contest to engage interest [...]

We will use funnels, soda bottles, and a toy called a Tornado Tube to explore the concepts of moment of inertia, rotational motion, angular momentum, kinetic and potential energy, and air pressure in an attempt to discover and explain the physics of a rather complex hydrodynamic system.

Using simple equipment, students will pressurize a plastic bottle and measure its change in mass. The activity can be extended to find the density of air for more advanced students.

Using simple equipment, students pressurize a plastic bottle and measure the increase in temperature of the air inside. Then they will release the pressure and observe a rapid decrease in temperature. Charles' Law.

Students introduce water vapor and smoke into a bottle, pressurize it, and quickly release the pressure. The rapid depressurization decreases the temperature of the water vapor, which encourages it to condense around the smoke particles. A cloud forms.

Unlike solids, fluids have no definite form but instead assume the shape of their containers. Fluids include all liquids and gases and a rather strange state of matter called plasma, an ionized gas that scientists believe accounts for 99% of the matter in the visible universe.

One of the challenges of teaching chemistry is making the invisible world seem real and relevant to our students. Labs present the best opportunity to demonstrate this, but too often we, out of necessity, begin each lab with a litany of “don’ts.”