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Air takes up space - Fizzics Education

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Air takes up space

Air takes up space

Follow FizzicsEd 150 Science Experiments:

You will need:

  • One clear container filled with water
  • Clear drinking glass
  • Tissue paper
  • Ping pong ball

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Air takes up space science experiment - materials needed
1 Air takes up space science experiment - floating ping pong ball in water

Place the ping pong ball into the clear container filled with water.

2 Air takes up space science experiment - covering the floating ping pong ball with a glass

Put the glass over the ping pong ball so that the ball sits inside the glass.

3 Air takes up space science experiment - ping pong ball at the bottom of the water container

Push the glass down into the water, while it is still over the ball. The water level should rise around the glass and the ball should remain dry.

4 Air takes up space science experiment - covering the floating ping pong ball with a glass

Remove the glass from the water.

5 Air takes up space science experiment - adding tissue paper to an empty glass

Scrunch some paper into a ballput it into the glass.

6 Air takes up space science experiment - beginning to push the glass over the floating ping pong ball

Again place the glass, upside-down into the water and push down. The tissue paper should not get wet. Why?

7 Leaf blower demo toilet paper
8 Teacher showing how to do an experiment outside to a group of kids.

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9 A man holding a soda can with tongs and a bunsen burner heating the can base

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Why Does This Happen?

Air takes up space. It cannot get easier than this!

The pressure exerted by the air inside the glasses allows the air to exclude the water and the ping pong ball. Using the tissue just helps to show that air, not water, is trapped inside the glass.

You would have noticed the water level rise within the container as you pushed the glass down. This is due to displacement, whereby the water is pushed out of the way by the air inside the glass.

The same idea is applied when it comes to air locks in deep-sea diving bells. As long the air pressure is greater than the water pressure, the water will not enter the diving bell.

Variables to test

More about variables here

  • Does this work with all liquids?
  • What happens if you change the shape or size of the glass?

A man with a glove above a liquid nitrogen vapour cloud

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