Message-Id: <3.0.3.32.19980604114850.006a02ac@mail.walltech.com>
Date: Thu, 04 Jun 1998 11:48:50 -0500
To: pinhole@exploratorium.edu
From: geoff ruth <geoffr@eastside.org>
Subject: Pressure and outer space questions
In-Reply-To: <l03102800b16be4223d6a@[153.90.236.25]>
Today I was talking with a student who was drinking soda from a plastic
bottle. He asked me why it was that the soda bottle gets pulled in &
deformed as he sucks the soda out of the bottle, so he & I talked about
pressure and volume changes. Then he asked what would happen if you drank
the soda in a place like space, where there was a vacuum (no outside
pressure to push in when the volume of liquid/air inside decreases). I
think that nothing would happen when you sucked the soda out of the plastic
bottle, ie that the bottle wouldn't partially crumple inwards. Is this
true? Here's a related question: if the bottle of soda has more pressure
than the vacuum of outer space, would the bottle of soda explode? Does the
strength of the plastic container's walls determine whether or not it
explodes or survives?
Random yet interesting questions.
Geoff Ruth
Eastside School
2101 Pulgas Avenue
East Palo Alto, CA 94303
(650) 323-5898