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Bernoulli Pop Cans
Materials:
- 2 Empty Soft Drink Cans
- 24 Drinking Straws
- Flat Smooth Table
Procedure:
Place 23 straws on the table parallel to each other, about 1 centimeter apart. Place the two cans upright on the straws. The cans should be able to roll freely back and forth. Position the cans about 5 cm apart. Using the remaining straw blow between the cans. The cans roll toward each other colliding with a clang.
Explanation:
What's going on?
In 1738, a Swiss mathematician David Bernoulli studied the relationship between pressure and velocity of a fluid. The Bernoulli Principle states that the pressure of a fluid decreases as it's velocity increases. In this experiment, air serves as our fluid. As the velocity of the air between the two cans increases the pressure it applies to the inner sides of the cans decreases. That allows the air on the opposing sides of the cans to push the cans to an area of lower pressure. The cans are not "sucked" together, they are pushed together
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